tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57661842129345358032024-03-12T19:28:50.441-07:00The Superfly CircusTabletop Game Reviews and Social Commentary At Its Finest=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-28682235337407790872014-07-11T17:07:00.000-07:002014-07-11T17:09:08.774-07:00THE CIRCUS HAS MOVED!<br />
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We've finally grown up, and we've decided it was time to have a little more control over our own destiny. Thus, we've bought 5 years of service and hosting.....and our new site is up and running. We've had a problem that I suspect is related to us being hacked in November, and now (as I'm sure you know) we've been inundated with these damned pop-up ads. Well, fuck that shit. No more blogger, we're now a WordPress site, and we're self-hosting!<br />
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I hope you enjoy!<br />
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<a href="http://www.superflycircus.com/">www.superflycircus.com</a><br />
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If you have any questions, get me at<br />
<br />
superflytnt aT twc d0t com<br />
superflytnt At superflycircus dat com<br />
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Go over and subscribe to continue getting our emails!=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-87231948585347573682014-07-02T12:10:00.002-07:002014-07-02T12:10:18.182-07:00Firefly - Joss Whedon's Ultimate Misbehavior Is Lifting Ideas From Other Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAm_8EghTqQ5DXT_mIbXf1hqwfWpfMXYwioMlBIaTL6HTHSoszFZcXk2bal-cOGfPAQIpE6kGvGzM3yQ7VRS0Nodh13J4ezuCqGQkAzdCI99w_9PpTjQMcEn9ms9tKoXBp3TFonQyNpeA/s1600/Firefly1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAm_8EghTqQ5DXT_mIbXf1hqwfWpfMXYwioMlBIaTL6HTHSoszFZcXk2bal-cOGfPAQIpE6kGvGzM3yQ7VRS0Nodh13J4ezuCqGQkAzdCI99w_9PpTjQMcEn9ms9tKoXBp3TFonQyNpeA/s1600/Firefly1.JPG" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The world of the TV show Firefly, and the fiction surrounding it, is quite a far cry from your average Sci-Fi, with an odd, kind-of-mystic, pseudo Western/Chinese vibe. As I'm sure you know, the show was incredibly popular, but apparently not so much that it could last more than one season plus a movie, but that hasn't stopped a subculture of fans from reliving its short-lived glory. Enter Firefly: The Board Game, licensed to Gale Force Nine, who up until relatively recently pretty much made its name as a tabletop war game publisher. They seem to have a thing for licensed IP because they've made this and one other board game, based on another show, which is still incredibly popular and well-received by the hobby game community. Firefly seems to be doing the same thing, for the most part, and at GenCon last year people were going fully bat-shit crazy over it. The truth is that sometimes people want something to be better than it is because they like the theme or license, as can be attested to by a litany of really shitty Star Trek computer games.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The thing about this game is that I feel as if I've played it several times before, but the other times it was called Runebound, Return of the Heroes, and Merchants of Venus. See, there's nothing remotely new about this game, to be honest, because it's essentially a portmanteau of a bunch of other games, with a Firefly-branded theme slapped on. As much as I liked the show, I really am a little disappointed because while the game is sort of fun, it's just that it's so much like other games I've played that it feels like I'm walking the same old ground. The base game, even with the "Breakin' Atmo" expansion which is just a small deck of cards with more stuff to buy and people to hire, amounts to running around doing pick-up-and-deliver missions with a skill check at the end. With some missions, there's not even a skill check, you just declare it complete and that's it. All in all, it's just not that engaging or exciting because it's just not that different from other stuff I've played. There's very little player-on-player action unless you get the latest expansion "Pirates and Bounty Hunters", which I own, and I think that it's omission from the game's launch was either a huge misstep or a marketing calculation to sell you new stuff down the road, knowing that it's like <a href="http://tribbletoys.com/buy.html#candy">Tribble Shit</a>...if it's licensed, it will always sell.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, this latest expansion changes the base game profoundly, allowing you to steal other players' crews, kill, murder, maim, pirate, and basically be a dirty, rotten scoundrel for a living. I was much colder on the game before I had this, but considering that I'm about $80.00 USD deep in the game at this point, I'm quite pleased to say that we really dug the game a lot more when we added it in. It </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">quite ably brings the game up to the level of "something new and exciting", and more importantly, it does so without adding bullshit, chrome rules that add complexity for complexity's sake. It's quite surprising that one little expansion could make such a difference, especially when it doesn't change the basic premise of the game.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulJwCE8Y0qT0k4ODCziTQnDHn-0kz8BZUoRaCKI_E9PNomNdC9RbJMxO4heBodFJL3NIjGbiAneDJ5AbeXkKQ8eDPZxazsILCi8o1UatqsWsgfXPw4Vhfc2pN8qMJEP3g3BlH6t8kqPY/s1600/Firefly+board.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulJwCE8Y0qT0k4ODCziTQnDHn-0kz8BZUoRaCKI_E9PNomNdC9RbJMxO4heBodFJL3NIjGbiAneDJ5AbeXkKQ8eDPZxazsILCi8o1UatqsWsgfXPw4Vhfc2pN8qMJEP3g3BlH6t8kqPY/s1600/Firefly+board.PNG" height="183" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Pairing with the new PvP action are new cards and jobs that are indisputably criminal and nefarious, not to mention that it adds the single most interesting character from the entire show, the bounty hunter Jubal Early. Two new ships are in the mix as well, one of which is essentially a Firefly version of Slave One, with the other being a great big, slow, unwieldy cargo ship for doing a bunch of legitimate, or not so legitimate, cargo runs. All said, I would likely have traded Firefly and the first expansion away for something else had I not bought this expansion on the recommendation of the <i><a href="http://www.spirithalloween.com/images/spirit/products/interactivezoom/processed/07054497.interactive.a.jpg">Grand Poobah of Ameritrash Criticism</a></i>, <a href="http://www.nohighscores.com/2014/06/12/cracked-lcd-firefly-pirates-and-bounty-hunters-in-review/">Michael Barnes</a>. So compelling was his argument that despite his continual execration of the Euro classic game, Stone Age, I could no longer demur and bought in, despite my lingering reservations about the play quality of the base game. I hate it when he's right, and I hate it more when I agree with him.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTNy5FNogfxhRjrlm_Pau4n_rOaRNy6whwnrQa_hR-NAisboQ_qAsFYJtvzrUKq2xdP8cY7kCdPhG1wzo-_upR4dKM_viZtQ9pmsq7bF_Q8eEADb3xbQCN0W7QfHoVyGUzmTyhztHjrA/s1600/Firefly_Leader_Early.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTNy5FNogfxhRjrlm_Pau4n_rOaRNy6whwnrQa_hR-NAisboQ_qAsFYJtvzrUKq2xdP8cY7kCdPhG1wzo-_upR4dKM_viZtQ9pmsq7bF_Q8eEADb3xbQCN0W7QfHoVyGUzmTyhztHjrA/s1600/Firefly_Leader_Early.png" height="200" width="146" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, if there's one thing that can be said about this game and its expansions, it's that the components are top notch. I don't think I've ever seen paper money that was so outstandingly illustrated, to begin with, and the little plastic ships are pretty cool too, despite the players' ships being identical in all but color, unless you include the new ships from Pirates and Bounty Hunters. The cards are all illustrated well, with the backs being really nice looking and the fronts being printed with images from the show, and with legible, understandable text, complete with colored and highlighted key words. I wish more games would do that. The board is probably the weakest point, with it having a total fucking mess of space delineations. Sometimes you just have to kind of wing it because there's no real guidance as to which space is considered to be in a specific area, and it matters because some jobs require you to go to that area, but you're not sure which planet is the target. All in all, they could've done better there, but that said, we just house ruled it and moved on.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2cJDOKT9YXpImb6jd8CEHmsu4-85NGjn4hBcXhOpQvBan4uHb_QOcbtQHcWqxxcJfUwozyfa644B2WYSKTsQzDZyGL_R5OhAoNL-pq8bRaFIgKHBnd8pVzJJQ_Qc08x7xqOsUaR0LHE/s1600/CashMoneyBitches.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU2cJDOKT9YXpImb6jd8CEHmsu4-85NGjn4hBcXhOpQvBan4uHb_QOcbtQHcWqxxcJfUwozyfa644B2WYSKTsQzDZyGL_R5OhAoNL-pq8bRaFIgKHBnd8pVzJJQ_Qc08x7xqOsUaR0LHE/s1600/CashMoneyBitches.PNG" height="176" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gameplay is quite brisk, and even then, the game can be an hour for a two player game or three hours for a four player game. Turns amount to players taking a couple of actions, in turn, which can include moving one space, moving several spaces and drawing cards each turn to determine if bad shit happens, buying and selling, or completing jobs. Some jobs are legal and simple, but the illegal jobs such as hauling fugitives or contraband across the galaxy are not. There's a sort of police force in the game, but it's really just there to annoy you and screw your plans up, and honestly, the Alliance Cruiser which represents the cops doesn't shot up very often, especially since it can only travel the inner part of the board. Now, the outer part of the board can be particularly nasty because there's a Reaver ship, representing space anarchists of a sort, that also occasionally shows up at your doorstep to kill and steal everything you've got. The card-flipping mechanism is a little bit interesting in that there's a tension you feel because it triggers the cops and Reavers, but it also tends to slow the game pace down a little. The whole card-flipping thing is removed in a two player game, and I think that accounts for the brevity of the game when playing in that format.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZutIqjaq9Z1907dNxcdBHUVWrL0i9N4C4pKpjqJValJtZi03eEnX-k9KFgO0t62zZP9OOUM9aF-dFDwOTo5VUttSX4zYhgdaMYrWfDmbyMxbX2t9E49__L0cMEIbn56NkQkmyYmtZ70/s1600/Firefly+Ships.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3ZutIqjaq9Z1907dNxcdBHUVWrL0i9N4C4pKpjqJValJtZi03eEnX-k9KFgO0t62zZP9OOUM9aF-dFDwOTo5VUttSX4zYhgdaMYrWfDmbyMxbX2t9E49__L0cMEIbn56NkQkmyYmtZ70/s1600/Firefly+Ships.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The real meat of the game, though, is doing jobs and earning a space buck. These are initiated by talking with contacts, strewn about the galaxy, and simply choosing them from the discard deck. This looking at the discards is a neat way to ensure that you know what's available at all times, and this is a lot like Runebound in that sense, but with Firefly, this applies to jobs as well as items and people to buy. Once you've got the mission, you are told to go somewhere for the first leg, then go somewhere and do something else on the second leg, at which point you're paid for a job well done. There's a reputation system at play so when you do a job, you become "solid" with a contact, and end up getting more options. Some jobs, however, are highly dubious and require one or more skill checks, initiated by drawing a "Misbehave" card. Some require you to have certain items or skills just to start them, and many are incredibly tough because they have high bogeys to hit via a die roll and then adding your workers' skills of a type. All in all, there's not much new here but it works, is simple, and is pretty fun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Basically, if you like Runebound, this will probably be a nice change of scenery while being a very similar game, especially if you like Runebound and always yearned for a simpler, English version of Return of the Heroes. There's a lot to like here, especially if you're going to buy the base game and the expansions in one fell swoop. I can't say that I'd be recommending this without the Pirates and Bounty Hunters expansion, because it's such a retread of what I've already played ad infinitum, but I think the Circus as a whole is pretty split on that matter. Some players really dug it, and those were unanimously the same ones that never played Runebound. My wife and I both were very tepid, having played Runebound so very many times, but once I introduced the expansion, we both agreed that the "missing piece" that could make the game shine was now present. The short version is that we intend to keep flyin' for a good long time, but we're a little miffed that we had to have an expansion to get to that point. To add to this, there's yet another expansion that's releasing at GenCon, Blue Sun. It appears to add a new side-board of sorts to expand the space you can explore, which is a good thing, because once Jubal Early starts flying around, space gets very small, very fast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I'd Wear A Brown Coat, Even If It Was Made Of Poo:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Production values are absolutely dynamite, especially with the paper money</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Replay value is there, for sure, because there's a ton of cards</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Brisk pace ensures that there's the perfect amount of downtime</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Very few expansions have ever done so much with so little</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Two Words: Jubal Early. Does that seem right to you?</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why That Brown Coat Is Probably Made Of Poo:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The base game is lackluster and feels very samey in relation to older games</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The wee player ships are identical, except in color, which kind of sucks</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Card-drawing during long moves mostly serves simply to slow the game down</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- How many pick-up-and-deliver jobs can you do before you just get worn down?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It's really hard to fit everything in one box if you have both existing expansions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The base game could be great for someone who hasn't played similar games, but it's certainly not going to replace Runebound in my collection anytime soon. The first expansion was also quite lackluster and uninspired, but does add a few interesting items and characters. The latest, though, is that whole "you complete me" kind of expansion that I can't help but wish was in the base game to begin with. I can't recommend the game highly based on the base game, but when you toss in Pirates and Bounty Hunters, all of the sudden this is a game that has some teeth, which is kind of odd, since it is essentially retains the same pick-up-and-deliver core, while adding a big dose of "screw you", and making traveling near other players quite dangerous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rating (Base w/ Breakin' Atmo expansion):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>3/5 Stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Final Rating</b> (Base with all expansions):</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>4.25/5 Stars</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Learn more about the Firefly game here, at Gale Force Nine's page:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.fireflythegame.com/">http://www.fireflythegame.com/</a></i></span></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-26663143575611854532014-06-21T08:08:00.003-07:002014-06-21T08:08:57.723-07:00Revolver - This Colonel Ain't About The Chicken<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know I'm late in reviewing this, but nobody has ever really talked much about this one, so here I am, a year after first playing it, talking about it. Let's just get one thing straight: I really don't like very many card games. I'm a board gamer, and these deck building games, trick taking games, and other card-based games just don't do it for me, by and large. Some card games can transcend their disability (read: being a card game) with me because they're not quite card games, really, such as Summoner Wars or Trick or Treat, and it's that way because they're not really card games as much as a poor man's board game because the cards are really more like flat, rectangular units or locations.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, when "Dangerous" Dave Roswell, a dear friend I met at Fortress: Ameritrash, turned me onto it, my first thought was, "Shit. Another card game I won't like." It turns out that not only is the game very good, it's so much different than many of the card games that I've played, both in style and play, that it might actually be one of the best card games I've ever played. It is so good, in fact, that I just bought a second copy to replace the one I got from Dave and subsequently loaned to my friend Chris, knowing I'd probably never ask for it back. Only a very solid game would cause me to own it not once, but twice, especially when it's a card game in one of those abhorrent tins that doesn't seem to fit well on a shelf full of games.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQr1WXGJDzHIkSTEciwRMwuMAe66F4LoBGiSa7N9su4CuS48LepzRCB8W1iQAxqdHQTinodRJpKCtq4GOG7ZVx6RcVFVY-Hyhyakgu1hXjeyjzdY24pLVLDZcfJTRkMOUb07Dn2oo4GEo/s1600/Revolver+Ned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQr1WXGJDzHIkSTEciwRMwuMAe66F4LoBGiSa7N9su4CuS48LepzRCB8W1iQAxqdHQTinodRJpKCtq4GOG7ZVx6RcVFVY-Hyhyakgu1hXjeyjzdY24pLVLDZcfJTRkMOUb07Dn2oo4GEo/s1600/Revolver+Ned.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Revolver, from Stronghold Games, has an "American Wild West" theme which is both very different than the usual fare (read: not zombies or generic fantasy tropes) and truly exudes a Wild West feel. Being a two-player game, it pits the good guy"Colonel" player and his posse against the "Outlaw" player in a game that's part battle and part racing against the clock. There's several cards in the tin which represent locations and have a sort of timer mechanism printed on them. These represent the battlefields which the two players will battle over for around four turns, until the time runs out and you move to the next. You simply place cards with icons on them on your side of the battlefield, the other player does the same, and then you see who has more hits. If the good guys do, the bad guys lose one of their gang members, but if the bad guys do, they get one step closer to escaping across the Mexican Border. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wzkx1l9VLLOHsd15WwiCJPo8uiYK9EDayoWFEH-lOhfNJWJYBERWXKVW7dZHhvm99tZ0gCRCKy5JsdUzRCTV_gPgBC7Vdb31V5IlY71HASxjIqrLQehPi-OIiVHDNSMJoh6hanUtx98/s1600/Revolver+Sheriff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wzkx1l9VLLOHsd15WwiCJPo8uiYK9EDayoWFEH-lOhfNJWJYBERWXKVW7dZHhvm99tZ0gCRCKy5JsdUzRCTV_gPgBC7Vdb31V5IlY71HASxjIqrLQehPi-OIiVHDNSMJoh6hanUtx98/s1600/Revolver+Sheriff.jpg" height="200" width="143" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's a very simple game, mechanically, but there's a lot of strategy that goes into it because many cards cause special effects to happen which bolster your side's ability to make war upon the other. Some allow you to play extra cards, some block the opponent's ability to place cards on a battlefield, some give you auto-kills of the bad guys, and a whole lot more. I was kind of surprised how much I liked the game, and it has a very different feel to it. It almost feels like a John Clowdus game in some ways (which is a good thing), but without the multiple-purpose cards. The best part is that it only takes maybe 30 minutes or so to play, and setup only takes about 3 minutes, if that. I've brought my wee tin all over the place, and I've played it with friends and the wife over dinner at restaurants, at the park while the kids attempted to shatter all the bones in their bodies on the jungle gym, and so on. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEm7kyeYc2d0lfs1QGpI_Av6Drf-Qvo1KDyeSFh1FDsl5Qu9Sbk_d7ejzf_7yGuBDIyBObVErdSuNWUUff10saKH_aUJ9xWW4-JVjZXTIqBQ4_HQ0Ja17Hppgkq4PF7gKFtmjakqBc8o/s1600/REvolver+Shootya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEm7kyeYc2d0lfs1QGpI_Av6Drf-Qvo1KDyeSFh1FDsl5Qu9Sbk_d7ejzf_7yGuBDIyBObVErdSuNWUUff10saKH_aUJ9xWW4-JVjZXTIqBQ4_HQ0Ja17Hppgkq4PF7gKFtmjakqBc8o/s1600/REvolver+Shootya.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From a value perspective, I think it's a pretty slick deal because at around $20.00, it will provide you with a whole lot of fun. I've probably played it 10 times at this point, and I'm still all about playing it again. Shit, the kids are at their aunt's house for the next couple of weeks, so me and the missus are going to be all over this at night when we're about half in the bag thanks to Mr. Tanqueray and Stella Artois. It's also worth mentioning that the art is actually pretty damned good, and the components are top quality, with well painted wooden blocks, thick cards, and great little punch-board tokens. There's a handful of cheap expansions as well, two of which Fortress: Ameritrash's Josh Look was kind enough to sell me on the cheap. I've not played them yet, but the first expansion changes the core rules a little, such as being able to set ambushes for the bad guys by placing cards underneath a battlefield, and the second expansion adds a new Prison location from which the bad guy player can free his defeated cronies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I said, it's a good game that I, my wife, my 12 year old, and several of the Circus Freaks have enjoyed. Not a single person said anything untoward about it, although it was rated a little lower than I'd have expected when I polled them all. If I had to name just one flaw with the game, I don't think I really could, to be honest, if we're talking the game itself. Now, I hate those little tins that come with this, Panic Station, and the original edition of Quarriors. They never fit anywhere right, and the art isn't nearly good enough to be a little display piece. Other than that, though, the game is solid, really fun, fast, and portable. I think, since I've been thinking about this game for an hour or so now, that I'm going to get the wife out of bed right now, set this up, and whip her ass at it. Or try, at least.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Nice art and good components make this look nice on the table</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Tons of replay value allow this to not end up a shelf toad</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Just the right amount of randomness due to card draws make each session different</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The price point is perfect </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why This Bronco Needs To Be Put Down:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Cremated bodies are the only thing that should come in embossed tins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- I think it's slightly easier to play the good guy side, but not by much</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Revolver, with its unique Western theme, fast play, portability, and price make this a game that is very good, although probably not great, and that is simple to learn, teach, and play. While it is the epitome of a filler game, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing because it's not expensive and is so accessible that you can literally teach it in just a few minutes at best. We highly recommend it if you like quick-playing card games that don't involve set collection or trick taking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>4/5 Stars</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Learn more about Revolver at Stronghold Games' Revolver page:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>http://strongholdgames.com/store/revolver-line/</i></span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-21211767755957323042014-05-27T09:15:00.003-07:002014-05-27T09:16:07.070-07:00Krackades Mini - "Healthy Body, Sick Mind" Does Not Even Begin To Explain...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqsGQkRHUO5qLmJI2A0gZGm3XtKtQcVq74QSoVpsXM58JZi3wvsGn5OBy2V-3SAjyZJpzAu_ETOYFKYZ056lv9JFMv9OfwhWHc-wtKFXtzq11fWfARj9GywR42FwLL9iOEius4SPbGsQ/s1600/krackmebaby.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqsGQkRHUO5qLmJI2A0gZGm3XtKtQcVq74QSoVpsXM58JZi3wvsGn5OBy2V-3SAjyZJpzAu_ETOYFKYZ056lv9JFMv9OfwhWHc-wtKFXtzq11fWfARj9GywR42FwLL9iOEius4SPbGsQ/s1600/krackmebaby.png" height="157" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">About a month and a half ago, I had an upcoming party to go to with the folks at the Circus HQ, and so when I coincidentally got an email from "Krackie Krackades" (no shit, that was the email address) to review the new game, Krackades Mini, I figured it would be a good game to play at the party. In essence, it's a party game that is dirty as hell, much like Cards Against Humanity is, but this is much more of a game, where Cards Against Humanity is really more of an activity than a game. We played it three times, per the Circus rules, and while the first time was really fun, it very quickly lost its ability to entertain, much to our disappointment.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ggPcRXX2-1TNkdp1vpTUnBrr9Myzz4ciwsmD8u1Op9BI4HNqyMdcDqzx9EnJ3MMdvHivrSKCWgrFHNJzGmUtvrKPv5g8eKcG9MAqNY7TrUmKb000APQo4HmKKb8tNzpzO-iXB-bQlq0/s1600/Krackades+cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ggPcRXX2-1TNkdp1vpTUnBrr9Myzz4ciwsmD8u1Op9BI4HNqyMdcDqzx9EnJ3MMdvHivrSKCWgrFHNJzGmUtvrKPv5g8eKcG9MAqNY7TrUmKb000APQo4HmKKb8tNzpzO-iXB-bQlq0/s1600/Krackades+cards.jpg" height="107" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The game itself is nothing more than a deck of kind-of-ugly cards with four suits; you need to supply your own paper, pen, and Play-Doh, which is one thing that you regular readers know that I truly fucking despise. If you sell me a game, I don't want to have to go to the store to get extra shit. Anyhow, the four suits are "act", "draw", "sculpt", and "Krack Attack"; it's</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> a sort of design portmanteau of "Charades", "Cranium", and "Telestrations" in that people use acting, drawing, and sculpting to elicit the content of the cards so that their teammates can guess what the card says. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The first three suits are pretty self-explanatory, but the last are cards that teams can use to alter other team's efforts, such as making them perform their card standing on one leg, or with their eyes closed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As it turns out, it's a one-play wonder, in that as long as you follow a key rule that I'll get into later, it will be a really good time, but not because of the design as much as the looks on people's faces when they realize what it is that you're trying to act out, draw, or sculpt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, these are not even remotely guessable unless you are a total degenerate, or in other words, if you're like me. For instance, one card asks you to sculpt a "big penis vein", while another card asks you to act out "99 problems but a bitch ain't one". Some are genuinely funny, such as drawing something representing an "asian glow", but some are just reaching. In short, it's a mixed bag, and with the right crowd you can have a good time. This is definitely the kind of game that you break out when your friends and their spouses are around and everyone's had a couple shots of bourbon. The amount of fun you'll have is directly proportional to the level of debauchery that precedes it, and the utter sickness of mind of the participants. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The magic to making this game last for more than one session is to be sure that nobody has seen the cards in advance so that they really have to guess, rather than have it be sort of a raunchy, multiple-choice game. It was hard for me to play because I looked at some of the cards, which gave me a huge advantage, since guessing "doggy style" </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> isn't as hard when you know the card is in the deck. I only looked at a couple of each to get an idea of what to expect, so I limited my bias, and I suggest that you don't even look at the cards when you get it so that you don't ruin it for yourself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have to admit, the biggest downside of the design is that the best part of the game is the reveal if your teammate doesn't guess it, since the laughs abound at that point. Once you've seen all of the cards, the game loses all of its humor, and really, all of the fun, so you literally can only play this once or twice with the same people and expect it to be anything but a total waste of time. In short, this is the epitome of an "experience game", one that you play once and talk about for months, but won't be able to recapture the original magic on replay. The first time we played it someone literally spit out a mouthful of beer all over the table and damned near drowned because they were laughing so hard. The second time was notably less fun because we had seen almost all of the cards, and a lot of the shine had faded because of it. The third time we played it, it was a lot more sighs than laughs, and I refuse to play it again because of this experience.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, the game retails on Amazon for $13.00, so it's cheap enough to get you past the fact that this is a one-time game, and we had such a fun time with it the first time we played that I wholly recommend it. You'll notice that there's no pictures here, which is odd, and I did this specifically for the reason I mentioned - the less you know about the game, the better, so you can enjoy it fully the first time you play. It had an </span><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/290247898/krackades-its-charades-on-crack" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign a while back</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, and I can understand that there's a limited market for it, but I think this game would actually be a great $25.00 party game, especially since the Kickstarter version (not to be confused with the subject of this review, the mini version) was actually a full game that contained all the required parts, and had a lot more cards. As I said, these two points were the only drawbacks to the currently available Krackades Mini, so honestly, the Kickstarter version would've been a really, really good party game for people with sick minds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why Krackades Mini Overdoses On Awesome:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Sick, filthy fun, with a dash of backstabbing, make this a great party game</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Simple rules make this a game that isn't hard to explain at all, especially when wasted</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- It supports huge crowds, so you have no upper limit on players</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Two words: KRACK ATTACK</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why "Krackades Mini" </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Is How One Describes An HIV+ Midget Crack Whore:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- You need to buy extra materials in order to play, especially if you have no young kids</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- If you look at the cards before playing, you ruin the game</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- You have to have at least 8 people to make this worth playing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- There's not enough cards to support three full sessions with the same people</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The art is about two steps above stick figures</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- There's very little that's novel about the design</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd totally buy this if I had a party to go to and I knew that I'd only play it once or twice with the same crew, and also, the crew is pretty open to "irreverent humor" (read: crass, lewd humor). If you're looking for a long-term party game like Wits and Wagers, but grimy, that you can play for dozens of weekends at barbecues, this isn't the game. The price point is perfect, though, for that one-time experience if that's your goal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>3/5 Stars</b></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Learn more here: </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>http://krackades.com/</i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You kind of have to see this video: </i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9ua6WU6K1c</i></span></div>
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=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-44961296565243416872014-05-18T09:06:00.001-07:002014-05-18T09:06:55.528-07:00Stratego: Fire And Ice - "Let's Paint A Wizard's Hat Onto The Mona Lisa To Freshen It Up!"~ Hasbro Designer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKwv86Pu9TqYHXl1oOItjcL3OW1nsan5763QD8_iCYnbC47DVNEqzeDAcXun5wHBRvXsajyg7V_JqLZ23Ol8HnpSdNq6sWE0LrDU-leixhbdbrXyVSkQqHDyLdIw7Sc_Mcg-XfXJTKt84/s1600/stratego-front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKwv86Pu9TqYHXl1oOItjcL3OW1nsan5763QD8_iCYnbC47DVNEqzeDAcXun5wHBRvXsajyg7V_JqLZ23Ol8HnpSdNq6sWE0LrDU-leixhbdbrXyVSkQqHDyLdIw7Sc_Mcg-XfXJTKt84/s1600/stratego-front.jpg" height="315" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Over spring break I've been introducing my 12 year old daughter to some of my more advanced games because most of her friends are away with family and whatnot, but since we're moving soon we're preserving our vacation time for the move and so here she sits, with only a couple of neighborhood friends to hang with. Anyhow, a couple nights back we broke out Stratego: Fire and Ice, and playing the basic "classic" rules, we played a couple of games. She immediately fell deeply in love with it, because it's simple to learn, relatively quick, but has enough strategy to feel like it's not a total waste of time. It's actually quite brilliant, according to her gleeful smiles as she trounced the shit out of me not via luck, but by being a clever little turd. <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/Supermarket/pictures/591809/beautifuld_full.jpg">Woe is me when she's 16 and dating.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you haven't heard of the old Hasbro game, Stratego, you've been hiding under a rock for 30 years. Recent versions have tried to spice up (read: <a href="http://cdn29.elitedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/you-are-not-the-father-800x400.png">bastardize</a>) the game with all kinds of new skins and special powers, such as a Lord of the Rings and Star Wars version, and this latest iteration, a generic fantasy version. To me, this speaks to the broad appeal and longevity of the game's core mechanics, and to Hasbro's apparent ideology that freshening up games for the iPad generation can sell more units. All I know is that when I saw this sitting at my local Goodwill store for 4 bucks, complete, I could not help but buy it to see whether my nostalgia for the game was ill-conceived. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As it turns out, now that I've been playing hobby games for a great while, I understand with great clarity that this game is literally a great grandfather to games like Dungeon Twister, or other more European style confrontational games. Further, as I realized just recently after reflecting upon a thread at Fortress: Ameritrash, this is actually a hybrid combat/deduction game. Unfortunately, with regard to the new advanced rules, they literally destroyed what made classic Stratego what it is.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first copy I ever saw was the 1970's version that had a Colonel Mustard-looking guy smiling across the board at you, holding a piece. Never trust a guy with a <a href="http://www.fangirlmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/list-trask-560x446.jpg">pornstache</a>, says I, and that skeevy pervert totally looks like he's got some children locked in a basement somewhere. Anyhow, it had Marshals, Colonels, Captains, and so on down the ranks to the lowly Scout; only a very few pieces had any powers, and in almost all cases, the guy with the stronger piece would win an individual battle. The only way to know what rank the other guy's piece is was to attack it, which forced you to make incredibly tough decisions that delivered a very palpable tension. It's what made the game so fun to play. Not so any more, because with this latest "Fire And Ice" version, gone are the military ranks, replaced by mostly <a href="http://blogmaster2000.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/larp-dymwan-1.jpg">generic fantasy wankers</a> such as the Dragon, Mage, Elf, and Dwarf. The funny thing is that the art looks straight out of Heroscape, down to the "Lava Monster" creature that looks a hell of a lot like a Marro Warrior, if you know what that is. I'd argue that it's not that the new rules are "bad" in the sense that they don't work, it's that</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Regarding the art and components, the board a nice looking four-fold design which I love because it's small enough to take up very little room, and the components are of the usual new-style "castle" design with sticker faces. Gone is the medium sized, rectangular box and now the box is a small square, making it easier to put on shelves with newer-style games. In addition, I am incredibly happy I didn't have to sticker these myself, thanks to the previous owner, because there's like 100 pieces and the stickers have to sit in this little recessed area which I cannot see being anything but a white-hot bitch to get in there right. The stickers on some of my pieces are awry, which gives credence to my thoughts on the subject. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's hard for me to really define what the art looks like; it's somewhere between Larry Elmore and whoever did the art on Heroscape. It's not really bad, although the board art is a bit on the lazy side, but rather it's just so damned generic and cartoony looking that it's hard to take it very seriously. My major complaint is that my board has the wrong power names written on the character images on one side of the board, so instead of "Flight" or "Detect Unit", they all say "Quickness", although the power descriptions are right. Pretty funny shit, you'd think someone would've proofread, especially at a mega-corporation like Hasbro. Anyhow, the rules are really simple, even using the Fire and Ice rules, so it's not a big deal to learn or teach, and to a 12 year old, no less, and it only really takes 45 minutes to play, so it's actually a great little 2-player filler game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, back to the "classic" game, my friends. I started looking at the way the game is set up, the actual design of it, and I realized that it is the epitome of a Euro game. There's no luck at all, and every move is an important decision. It is the ultimate brain burner, and from the moment you crack the box until one player takes the flag, it's a battle of minds. There is no post-game whining about dice rolls; if you lost, you lost because the other person out-thought you. The best part is that the complexity comes from the strategies you employ, not the rules, which in my mind is one of the most important features of a truly great game. There's no chrome, everything makes sense, and every design feature serves a purpose. It really doesn't get any more awesome than that, from a design perspective. With the art direction and the new powers, it's almost a drop in for a Dungeon Twister theme; in fact, I think this game could've really been branded with the Dungeon Twister moniker because I see a lot of similarities between that game and this. The difference is that I think it's far more intimate because of the small amount of controlled units; Dungeon Twister is SEAL Team Six to Stratego's Battle of the Bulge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Even the new version, with it's new powers, is definitely still a Euro-style game, with simple rules and deep play, but with all the chrome nonsense that comes into play, I think it can be chalked up to "adds complexity for complexity's sake" at best, "abortion on a shingle" at worst. At least from a thematic standpoint, everything makes sense, but sadly, from a design standpoint, it seems like someone from Hasbro couldn't stand to leave well enough alone and, to add insult to injury, had to use cool sounding (read: insipid) names like <a href="http://www.boxofshit.com/">Volcandria and Everwinter</a>, as if it wasn't generic enough just adding generic fantasy tropes into the mix. It's like the Magic: The Gathering third string team was out of ideas, reached into a hat, and pulled out rejects from 1989. On its face, and only on its face, it's not a bad update of the classic game, it simply certainly muddies what was once a stellar game design. One could make the argument that it adds to the game by giving players more choices, thereby adding a new layer of strategy. Sadly, once you get past the skin deep level, you realize that it murders the key tenet of the original game, the risk-taking mechanic, and since there is less risk, there is less tension, which makes it boring.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The changes are so profound that the game is hardly recognizable; it's not really Stratego as much as it's more of a "generic fantasy battle game". The board layout is the same, and the unit composition is the same, but that's about all. Funny enough, I think the printing error I mentioned may well be<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratego"> Ms. Hermance Edan's</a> revenge for the wholesale, rapacious profiteering through "updating" of her original 1908 design. Yes, a lady originally invented this game, if you weren't aware, and it was originally designed over 100 years ago. That's a fucking classic, if I ever heard of one, and Hasbro essentially went to The Louvre and painted a wizard's hat, replete with magnificent yellow moons and stars, onto Da Vinci's masterwork.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To be more specific, let me elaborate on some of the changes, since they kind of irritate me. First, the Dragon, this version's avatar of the Marshal, can fly over any units in orthogonal directions, land, then attack. In 1908, the first plane had only been invented 5 years prior; no, the Marshal couldn't fly. Another example is that the Mage can reveal itself, select an enemy unit within 2 spaces, and force the opponent to reveal its rank. In the classic game, a key decision point on every turn was whether to attack an enemy unit because the only way to determine its rank was to do so, and which was the core risk-reward mechanic in the game. In that same vein, the Elf can shoot any creature up to 2 spaces away, essentially giving the game ranged attacks, which make no sense when you consider the classic rules' adherence to a battle's victor taking over the space of the defeated unit, and again, the risk-reward mechanic that made the game so tense. Now, you can create a wall of strong units in your first rank, put Elves and Wizards in the second rank, and with zero risk simply force the enemy's hand in revealing itself. These two additions, alone, are a colossal, epic, indescribably fucking stupid change to this game's core mechanics. It literally changes how you play, and this is where the "rules get in the way" of the strategy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because all of the new unit designations have special powers, so it's much more of a miniatures game than old Stratego. Maybe it's nostaligia, but honestly, I don't know that I'd be interested in playing it even if I had no experience with Stratego, primarily because if it stood alone as a miniatures game, it simply wouldn't be all that good. My daughter and wife both share this opinion, after playing the classic rules and the advanced rules, and the wife never played Stratego's classic version prior to playing the advanced rules. The long and short is that the game's changes are so profound with regard to removing the tension and risk-reward mechanics that the game itself is simply not the same game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, while none of us can really offer a strong recommendation of this version of the game for the aforementioned reasons, this version does have a few redeeming values. First, it comes with the classic rules, so you can literally just avoid playing the Fire and Ice rules. Second, the smaller box that I mentioned makes it easier to store than the old-school rectangular box. Now, on the flip side, the pieces aren't the old-school engraved bits, which is a definite negative; stickers peel off eventually, but the engraved, painted numbers don't. I mean, if you look at it from the perspective that you get a "free" variant Fire and Ice version packaged in with the classic game, maybe it's a good deal. That said, if I wanted to buy Stratego, and I don't plan to buy it again, ever, I'd want the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-Stratego-Onyx-Edition/dp/B002Z3XGB0">Onyx version</a>, but if I wanted to buy cheaply, I'd most assuredly buy an older, classic version off of eBay for a low price. I guess what I'm saying is that this version leaves a lot to be desired, although for the four bucks a paid for it, I really don't have too much room to bitch, considering I can play the classic rules any time I want.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why Ice Is Cooler Than Santa Sipping A Milkshake In A Blizzard:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Stratego is a classic that every person must play, and will likely love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The small box makes this version of Stratego easier to store</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It has the classic rules built-in</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The "new-style" pieces are nicely molded and don't tip over</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why Fire's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhiRwo5QseU">Coming Out Of Them Like Lava</a>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Fantasy tropes scream "We don't care enough about you to develop something cooler"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The new rules ruin most of the tension that makes Stratego a classic</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The misprint on the board is irritating</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Stickers instead of engravings are understandable, but undesirable</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Overall:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First, the new rules murder most of the tension in the game, which was a <a href="http://coedbc.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/lucic-church.jpg">deliberate act of gaming vandalism</a>. Next, the stickers were a necessity to show the dragons and elves and whatnot, but putting that many stickers in small little apertures has to suck. Finally, with a market capitalization of over seven billion dollars, you'd expect them to hire an editor, but no, the misprint indicates otherwise. Short version: this version is inferior in almost every way to older versions, so buy them instead, but the classic game is so incredibly well designed that you should most certainly go out and buy an older version instead. In my estimation, "Jumbo Original Stratego" has the best value-to-quality matrix, and when I get some cash I'm going to get that one.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rating:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1.5/Stars</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Check out the rules here:</span></i></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/images/instruction-scans/hasbro/stratego%20new%202010%20instructions.pdf"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.transformertoys.co.uk/images/instruction-scans/hasbro/stratego%20new%202010%20instructions.pdf</span></a></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then go buy this:</span></i></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Toyland-9495-Jumbo-Stratego-Original/dp/B000FCURJ2"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.amazon.com/Toyland-9495-Jumbo-Stratego-Original/dp/B000FCURJ2</span></a></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh, and check out the single most optimistic person on the planet:</span></i></div>
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<i><a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221353146506?lpid=82"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221353146506?lpid=82</span></a></i></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-24087772763934901152014-04-12T18:39:00.001-07:002014-04-12T18:39:43.425-07:00The Bane Of Peer Marketing, As It Relates To The Hobby Board Game Industry<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was involved in a conversation at<a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/"> Board Game Geek</a>, and the subject was game criticism and the hesitance of people to do negative reviews. Up until the end, it was an interesting and compelling conversation, and it brought all kinds of people into it. As it turns out, some reviewers are trying with a straight face to somehow obfuscate the fact that compensation is received for the articles, videos, podcasts, et cetera, and that it influences them even a tiny bit. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, any sane, reasonable person would have to conclude that at some point, a motivation for doing serial reviews of games, and I mean more than a handful, has got to be access to review copies. I'm not saying <i>the sole motivation, </i>but I am saying that it's certainly one of them, and not a small one. And I'm not saying that people are in it for the money, either, but rather in the preponderance of reasons, access to review product is one of the motivators for people to begin reviewing games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One participant of the conversation had concluded that receiving review copies is not compensation, or not nearly enough alone to want to do game reviews. I cannot envision how he could possibly come to that conclusion. Access to review copies is absolutely a factor into why many people I know have started doing reviews. It's common sense, and I don't understand why there's such hand wringing and soft-shoeing about it. Why deny it? Just say, yes, having access to review copies is one factor of me starting this blog/podcast/website. I know it was with the Circus...after all, I'm not interested in spending thousands of dollars per year on games, but I wanted to get my voice out there because I didn't see any "groupthink" reviews out there other than <a href="http://opinionatedgamers.com/">Opinionated Gamers</a>, and I didn't particularly care for their style of writing or the games they review, in general. But you can't start a well-followed blog without a large collection of newer games, and unless you review new games when they come out, you will lack a great deal of relevance, because what you say has likely been said before, and a thousand times at that. So, access to new games upon release is a huge deal for a person wanting to do reviews, because it allows them to be on the forefront of people who are writing or talking about new games as they release.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyhow, this same participant who said that serial reviewers do it for "love of games alone" also said that when calculating compensation in the form of free games, you need to calculate the time you spent playing. Well, in my opinion, if you count playing the games you get as "work", then you're probably not doing it for love of games. I mean, some games, like Crossroads at Darklion Pass, or Halo Interactive Board Game can be work, no doubt, but the comments and guffaws at the game make it far more of a conversation about a bad B movie than work. Playing games is a hobby, and a joyous one; it's not work, unless you do it for a living or gain substantial money from it. Guys like Vasel put out such a huge volume of high-quality, edited, and professional content that I would ~dread~ doing that, and unless the compensation was so overwhelming that I could clear a hundred grand doing it and quit my job, forever. Even then, I'd probably take a pass, because I simply am not that invested in the hobby.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In that discussion, I did a little math to determine just how much "payola" someone like me could make, not counting advertising money on their site, access to paid previews, et cetera. I reckon that if a reasonably popular reviewer got 30 review copies in a year, which is 2.5 reviews per month, and the value of the average game at retail is $50.00, that person received $1500.00 per year in free product to review. Furthermore, if you consider an average effective tax of 23%, that person would've had to gross $1845.00 to pay for those games if they didn't have access to the review copies. If the average US household median income is $51,017.00, then they saved 3.6% of their annual household income by getting those review copies. That's $1500.00 in arguments with the wife about "your game addiction" that you didn't have to have. On top of that, there's free GenCon, Origins, ConnConn and other con passes you didn't have to buy, and of course, advertising revenue if your site has it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I also figured that a review, soup to nuts, takes me two hours. It takes an hour to think about the article, review notes, and so on, and it's an hour of editing, uploading, photography if none was taken during the games while they were being played. You could even slide in 30 minutes for ten minutes of polling and discussion for each of the three games played (at least that's how we review things here) in order to get the scores and some of the key ideas that the Circus members wanted to get across. If that game is $50.00, and it takes you two hours, the savings rate is $25.00 an hour to write and "research" a review. I don't know about you, but that's not insignificant. It's a simple, reasonable argument that publishers pay me $50.00 to spend two hours of my time talking about their game. Now, if they don't like what I write, well, they hired me, so it's their own fault. But again, it's not about the money, although this was a good example of the kind of compensation that is available to a reviewer who wishes to get free product and wants to justify the benefit/liability matrix in their own mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, as I can show, game reviewers are paid, and as I showed above, it's not insignificant. Some people write for that. There's also the "celebrity" factor, because some people have a need to be liked, and in writing about games a lot in our little niche hobby is the fastest way to get recognized. I think this is an even more pervasive reason in our world, because many people that are gamers are social outcasts, or socially inept, and this helps them break through the wall and be part of something larger than they ever were before; to be the popular kid. I've talked with some people whose biggest reason for getting into the gig is this one, and I can respect that. At least it's an honest answer, and it's not seeking payola for payola's sake.S</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ome people have that need, and for whatever reason, gravity or fate, they found themselves doing this review thing because it made them feel special and liked. No matter why this is, I'm just happy that they found peace in something positive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not saying I'm any better, or any less flawed, or any less biased. This is why I set the Circus up the way I did: I have unbreakable rules, I reviewed and continue to review every review copy I was ever sent or will ever be sent, and I sought out people outside the board game hobby who had never played anything beyond the old GameMaster series, Monopoly, or similar games, because they would be the least likely to have preconceived notions. I also set up the rules for review copies being given away because that way I had no vested interest in them; the words I use, the rape jokes, the utterly vulgar language, all of these things pretty much ensure that I was not going to get a lot of review copies, and I am 100% fine with that. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All these things I did because I didn't want to have the possibility of being biased, personally, and because I know I'm flawed. Again, I'm no better than anyone else, nor more principled, but I did things at this site solely to guard against the fact that I am indeed human, indeed flawed, and prone to weaknesses as others are.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another factor in setting the Circus up as it was has to do with "personal relationship bias". I like a lot of industry guys, because they're smart, savvy, and game dudes that are just cool. Colby Dauch is a cool ass guy. Jerry Hawthorne is an even cooler guy, one of the coolest people I've ever met. James Mathe is a great guy, and I really, truly like and admire him. That said, not a single person at the Circus besides myself have ever met any of them, will ever meet any of them, and couldn't identify them in a lineup if they were the only ones in it. I did this because this insulates my review process from bias; my Circus brothers and sisters are loud, obnoxious fucks just like me, and we don't pull punches. There's no bullying them into anything, and there's no persuading them unless the argument is sound. I've got a great group here, and this is why the Circus is so effective at what it does, which is being a champion of the consumer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I mean, there's nothing wrong with getting review copies on its face - it's not indicative of bias simply because you've gotten review copies from one vendor or another, provided you review all that you get. It's only indicative that you are human, and that you feel you produce good enough quality work that you deserve to receive them, and that you'd be a good news source for people. As long as you are explicit about receiving a review copy when you write or record a review, then the buyer has the relevant information and can then make a value judgement to determine if you are, to them, a credible witness, so to speak. This isn't even about individual reviewers, it's about how publishers rely on reviewers' fear of losing access in order to skew the entire industry to the positive. I mean, we used to get some review copies, but I stopped actively soliciting review games for the most part, doing so only if a reader specifically asked us to get a game, or if the game is from an unknown or smaller publisher and the game looked so cool that I felt an obligation to get it out there, in the hopes that a larger reviewer would follow suit. Again, that's our choice and we've suffered from it; we were up to 4,000 page reads a week and now we're down to 200, and I reckon it has a lot to do with my refusal to post to Board Game Geek and not being as relevant due to not reviewing "hot games" when they come out as we once did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But in the end, my point in writing this article is that there's something not often talked about, or rather goes unnoticed, and it has everything to do with "industry bias", and marketing people's understanding of human nature. It has to little to do with "an individual reviewer's bias". The main point is really about major reviewers not reviewing games that they don't like, after receiving them. You see, many reviewers, and especially the big name ones, are not keen on doing negative reviews, for a variety of reasons.</span><span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"> Joel Eddy, a major reviewer, </span><a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/154258/drive-thru-review-the-black-list" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">has publicly said that he does not do many negative reviews because they're not worth his time, among other things</a><span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">, which is his decision and I think it is probably a valid one considering the costs involved with producing a video. Others have said they don't do it because they don't want to deal with public backlash from the fanboys of any given product. Others have said that they simply don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, such as a designer, or a friend that is a publisher. All totally legitimate reasons not to do something, with the latter being a form of misplaced nobility, I believe. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">But here's the catch: </span><i style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">publishers know this about reviewers. </i><span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">They know that people don't want to waste their time on a game they don't like, that they don't want drama, and they don't want to hurt feelings. In fact, they count on this very human factor in order to ensure that they sell their products. </span><span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">The "review sales channel" is entrenched in "reprisal fear" to the extent that they have strong evidence that their risk of receiving a bad review from a major reviewer is very slim, and even minor but vocal reviewers are even more at risk from this kind of thing. To them, it's a $20.00 bet; if no review comes out because the reviewer doesn't like it, they're out $20.00 and get a marketing write off. If a good one comes out, all of the sudden, you spent $20.00 and got $200.00 in sales, or $2000.00, or if you're big enough, $20,000. I mean, I might be wrong here, but I've been researching this subject for five years now, and thanks to my "day job" I can smell a marketing plan a mile away just like a 20 year Army veteran can smell an enemy soldier around a corner. It gets worse though, and more insidiously damaging to the industry, when all major reviewers are in the position that their ability to produce content is in jeopardy simply by doing negative, but factual and honest, reviews, without pulling punches.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Because of the incestuous relationship with publishers providing review copies, it's the publisher who benefits, not the consumer, because the publisher is fairly secure in the belief that they hold most of the cards. It's not their fault, after all, because it's their job to sell games, and if the public isn't getting pissed about the fact that so many mediocre games are being made but rated highly, why shouldn't they continue doing what's working? Until the stick is removed from their hands, we will all remain prisoners in this trap.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">For example, look at what happened to Michael Barnes, who was blacklisted from FFG's review corps for the grave and inexcusable sin of speaking plainly about the company's failings. If this is what journalism is about, only telling the good stories and burying the bad ones, we're all going to be walking to the game store with our rose colored glasses on, provided at no cost by YouTube, Board Game Geek, and reviewers who have the carrot and the stick to consider when telling you about a product. I read that Tom Vasel was blacklisted for simply giving a "not incredible" review, although that's hearsay and I can't verify that, although it came from a trusted friend who knows him personally. These are the lessons being taught by this sales channel to reviewers: "get in line or you lose access", which affects their ability to do reviews at all, or at least often enough to remain relevant in the eyes of the eager and ravenous public. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-style: italic;">Let me put it simply: If every major reviewer generally refused to produce reviews of games they received but didn't like, as they currently do, the logical result is that the most popular reviewers who produce the best, most accessible content on the most popular sites will publish an overwhelming majority of favorable reviews, skewing the entire game world greatly positive, thereby giving the false illusion that almost all games are good.</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Think about it: if Tom Vasel and Joel Eddy hated a game, but Undead Viking liked it, the one review that will come out from a major news source will be positive. There will be no balance. </i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let that sink in, and contemplate it a minute: If every reviewer didn't take the opportunity to produce negative reviews as often as basic statistics would lead you to believe are possible, what you end up with is the top 5 news outlets taking turns producing positive reviews, which makes all games seem like they're good, from the 10,000 foot perspective. And the publishers count on this, after all, they're not hugely popular reviewers for no reason...they carry weight, and they are convincing in their reasons to like a game. What's missing is the back-and-forth that you might see when looking at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frij34THFF4">Tom Vasel's Top 10 Most Overrated Games video from a Dice Tower Con.</a> This is honesty in motion...three guys disagreeing honestly about games. Why is it that we don't see this very often in the form of reviews upon release? It's simple: reviewers can't afford to lose their access to free product because they would be crippled in their ability to produce relevant, current content, which is the death knell of any news source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I can't believe that more people can't see this, or maybe I'm just crazy. That's possible. I already see this phenomenon in the hobby realm, and it's only worse with Kickstarter, since projects on that site use blurbs from reviewers that is not wholly representative of the article, and they pay great sums of money to popular bloggers and video reviewers to "preview" products. This is leveraging your trust in a reviewer's unbiased opinion and his name recognition against the consumer, which is a sales tactic used in everything from deodorant commercials to beer. It's irrelevant what the reviewer said, because if a celebrity spoke about the product, paid or not, you know it's going to be good, right? It's sort of a conditioning that has set in the hobby world, and nobody seems to notice it: if a reviewer of good reputation is reviewing it, it's probably good. Why do we have these stereotypes, despite the fact that it's not entirely accurate? I mean Joel Eddy had to create his own "<a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/154258/drive-thru-review-the-black-list">Negative Review Geeklist</a>" just to point out that he's not all roses and cake! So why do these stereotypes exist? Probably because if you do 100 videos and 5 of them are negative, people will simply assume that if you review it, it's going to be positive. This kind of dialogue about "why don't you do negative reviews" is a clear indication that most of these guys' reviews are generally very positive, which gives credence to the notion that "if they reviewed it, it's probably good".</span><br />
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<span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Also consider that the lifeblood of the "review gig" is content, as I noted, and if a website is to remain relevant, constant content must be released. Unless a reviewer is independently wealthy and can buy 100-150 games a year to feed the need to keep content flowing, they rely on publishers to feed their content engine, which feeds their subscriptions and page views, which then feeds their advertising revenue stream. So, it's in a reviewer's interests not to write too many bad reviews because if they piss off publishers, they lose a content feed source, which then limits their ability to remain relevant without great personal cost. It's a vicious little circle, and it goes on behind the scenes, and isn't often talked about in detail, so what you have is a reviewer who can't cut himself off at the knees by doing as many negative reviews as they might otherwise, and you have a publisher who knows this, and therefore is willing to take a small risk at a small price with a tremendous upside. Not long ago I was watching a Vasel "Top 10" video whose subject was essentially bashing older games, and at one point, Tom said something to the tune of "Hey, they're a sponsor of the Con!" This indicates to me that reviewers are cognizant of the fact that they can't be too critical, but I don't think anyone needs confirmation of that; it's common sense. This is not an attempt to impugn anyone, hopefully it's the beginning of an ongoing dialogue about how games are sold to us, and to tell publishers that they cannot blacklist a reviewer for a negative review if they want to continue to sell us games.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">I'm not in any way saying that any given reviewer is a scumbag, a shill, a charlatan, or anything. Not remotely. What I am saying, however, is that because of this incestuous relationship between the publisher and the "review corps", what you have are loaded dice; a stacked deck against the consumer. The impression is given that almost all games are worthy of purchase, and perhaps many are, but the amount of buyer's remorse that you can find comments about on any given game tells me that people are buying a lot of games they hate. The question is what motivated them to do so, and I posit the idea that it's the stacked deck in an </span><span style="color: #121a0d; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">industry that is wholly bought and paid for by participants who are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to negative reviews. It's not one person shilling for a publisher, it's that the entire marketing system is set up under a structure that absolutely makes it deadly for reviewers to review bad games in a negative light. Worse, it ensures that all games get a good review by at least one major news source.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, yes, I'm vocal, outspoken, argumentative, rude, and a loudmouthed bastard about it, but it's because I'm passionate and I was sold so many utterly shitty games by deceptive marketing and a "stacked deck against the consumer". I took it as a personal goal of making sure that </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">everyone</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> that I could reach understood the way that games are marketed and sold, so that they would</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">know</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> that the deck is stacked against the truth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the end, I think the gaming industry would be better off, and higher quality product would be produced if reviewers as a whole would stop being afraid of the publishers. The reality is that it's not easy to become a Tom Vasel or Joel Eddy, and they carry an incredible weight with consumers. Publishers that blacklist them will have to accept that not every game they make is good, or fun, or even of high quality. They will have to accept criticism as it comes, without reprisal to the reviewer, or they will lose their cheap supply of marketing labor, some huge voices in the gaming world, and furthermore, its in their benefit to take the good with the bad. We hold the cards, as reviewers, not them, but only if we realize it.</span><br />
<br />=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-11631751036631650202014-04-07T05:00:00.000-07:002014-04-07T07:20:35.081-07:00Tobago - Can You Believe This Yahoo Is Comparing It To Android?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HJoMpmhNK-7PZXbMyPZ9LNDMUaVK84_TwZKLLKttboSRSg3mHPPPczdIsUsWzbqiXDqaDKCqvApQpY81qj4zOlVdv9wvEZZFD3NovQGhhwD0zeLKXpHY8fZ_VlDJQ0uueLFjNOJjM4Y/s1600/TobagoBox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9HJoMpmhNK-7PZXbMyPZ9LNDMUaVK84_TwZKLLKttboSRSg3mHPPPczdIsUsWzbqiXDqaDKCqvApQpY81qj4zOlVdv9wvEZZFD3NovQGhhwD0zeLKXpHY8fZ_VlDJQ0uueLFjNOJjM4Y/s1600/TobagoBox.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why are Moai statues on Tobago?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the first things I realized about deductive reasoning games is that there are very few that I really like. I'm a big fan of Clue, but the problem with other games that employ the mechanic of deducing something from little clues is that you are pissing into the wind for a good portion of the game until you can slowly remove suspects enough to nail down a couple of strong leads. <a href="http://riograndegames.com/Game/340-Tobago">Tobago</a>, from <a href="http://riograndegames.com/">Rio Grande Games</a>, is a different sort of deduction game because instead of looking for a murderer, the location of a Battleship, or the elusive Mr. X, you're looking for treasure, and the treasure isn't really so much "hidden somewhere" as much as "needs to be hidden by players". The difference between this game and so many others in the genre is that the players are the ones who control the actual locations of the treasures, of which there's four; Players have direct control over where the treasures are, yet are tasked with "finding them". Imagine Battleship where instead of putting white markers on your side of the board to indicate misses, you place them to indicate possible locations, and you can remove them by playing cards with Tetris-like patterns, allowing you to whittle away the pegs until there's only one possible location. That's what Tobago is, kind of, plus a little more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maybe it's the beautiful little Easter Island statues or the palm tree pawns, or perhaps it's the idea of hidden plunder, I've always wanted to play this. I finally got it on the cheap, and it sat here for six months or more, waiting to be played, because I loaned it out for a while, then I finally got it back, but now my wife an I are preparing our house for sale. That, and there was always something that I perceived to be "better" on my shelves. Well, last night I finally played the last game of Tobago with my daughter, and I'm not entirely sure that it will see the light of day again at the Circus, or at least at my house. It's not a bad game, and the most apt word that I heard said about it after beginning to poll players was, "It's funnish". That about sums it up: it's fun, in a not so fun, brain burning kind of way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The most interesting thing about the design is that it only allows players two options on a turn: move, or add a card to one of the treasure maps. You'd think that such a minimal amount of choices wouldn't cause the "brain burner" syndrome, but there were some really long turns of "analysis paralysis", which is very uncommon at the Circus. If anything we get "Highsfuk Syndrome", where players are too inebriated to be playing; rambling on for 20 minutes about a drunken tryst in the Philippines, debating the grammatical correctness of the use of the phrase "more perfect" in the U.S. Constitution preamble, or the superior feel of a Lucasi cue versus a McDermott. In other words, it's not that we don't know what to do, it's that we get distracted in conversation, at least normally. With Tobago, we were all kind of slow in taking turns because of the nature of the design.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tobago has beautiful and plentiful bits, from the treasure and clue cards, of which there's probably almost one hundred, to the cast statues and trees, to the wooden vehicles and huts. As a beautiful final touch, the windscreens and headlights are even painted onto the jeeps. It's a very pretty little game, with nice art throughout, and if you were to judge it on its bits alone, it would probably score quite strongly with people. The best part of the game, at least in my opinion, is the rule book and reference card, which made the game easy to learn and play, which would otherwise be a bit hard to understand because it's quite the odd bird. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, in my view, Tobago can be compared to <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=68">FFG's Android</a> in some ways, which I was attempting to do at a game night, although it was met with vociferous caterwauling and a great gnashing of teeth. In Android, you're not looking to <i>find</i> <i>a suspect</i> as much as you're trying to <i>frame a suspect. </i>This is the same in Tobago, because you're not trying to <i>find </i>the treasure as much as use cards to remove possible locations, but the players are ultimately in control of where the treasure is through the use of clue cards to establish the treasure maps. In short, you're both looking for treasure and placing it, simultaneously.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The treasures start with a clue card that tells everyone at the table one thing, such as that it's "within two spaces of a river", or "it's not in the largest mountainous area", and then as the game goes on, players place new clues to create each map and narrow down the choices. Players have a vested interest in creating all of the maps rather than just sticking to one, because when a treasure is finally revealed, no matter who recovers it, anyone who contributed to the map gets a share of the treasure, although the treasure distribution is done via a sort of bidding mechanic that has a dash of press-your-luck. Some treasures are cursed, and when a cursed treasure card appears, any treasure cards remaining in the recovered treasure go away, and anyone who passed on previous cards is screwed out of the loot. Furthermore, anyone who did not claim treasure but partook in the map making for a cursed treasure has to lose their most valuable card, or use a recovered amulet to block the curse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Amulet", you ask? That's right, like so many Euro games, the designer gave players a way out of bad shit happening to them. When treasures are recovered, the little statues place amulets at the furthest point directly in front of them, along the beach. These things are the "Knight Card", allowing you to ignore the curse by discarding an amulet you recovered simply by driving over it and stopping. The not-so-Euro aspect of the thing is that you can also use the amulet to do other things, such as discard and redraw all of your clue cards, play a second clue card on your turn, take an extra move, or remove one cube from the board. It's most certainly an interesting little nugget, but the truth is that in all of our games, people had two or three in their pile of stuff, meaning that they went unused and were taken primarily for insurance against the cursed treasures, which is funny because there's only two curse cards in the entire deck.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, there's one truly fucking horrible design aspect that every single person who played it decried: the cube placement. The idea is that you place these little cubes in possible treasure locations, but you can't always do it when there's only one or two cards, primarily because there's not enough cubes to put on every possible space. So, what ends up happening is that players have to spend too much time imagining the spaces, then look through their hand of four cards (six in a two player game) to figure out what would reduce the possible locations. This is where the "brain burning" comes in, and it's not really that bad, but it's also not a whole lot of fun. The game ends when the thirty treasure cards are depleted, which takes about an hour with two players and a little bit more, but not much, with four.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of the best design aspects, if not the bits, is the board design. There's three double sided boards which are set up so that no matter what permutation you choose, there's always a "largest area" for any given terrain type, a feat to behold on its own, but that also gives you 32 or so different ways to set the board up. On top of this, the bits that get placed are always placed randomly using some no-go rules which makes every game very unique and really does afford the game a lot of replay value. It's like playing Scotland Yard if every time you played, the board setup was wholly different, disallowing "favorite strategies".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I've played it with two players, three players, and four players, so I've got a good grasp where the sweet spot is, and I think it's with three. With four players, it's a little too crowded and there's a little too much shit going on. It becomes a bit of a race, to a degree. With three, there's enough room to roam around without being beset by other players in an area. If there's one overarching praise that I feel needs to be heaped upon Tobago, it's that it has no "kingmaking" in a three player game, which is incredibly hard to do. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The game seems player-neutral, and by that, I mean that there's no apparent leader, and no real way to beat up on the leader. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The one overarching complaint that I, personally, have about this game is that there is zero player interaction, either direct or indirect, except in the treasure capture phase, and even then, it's simply taking or passing on a given treasure card. It doesn't seem to hurt the game any, and few people in my group mentioned it, but to me, it's a very "multi-player solitaire" kind of game; </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">every player pretty much just plods along and "plays their own game, on their own terms", so to speak.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At the end of the day, Tobago is a surprisingly interesting little game of treasure hunting, with a small dash of truly exciting moments. For instance, my daughter moved her car onto a space for no apparent reason, but the next turn she dropped a clue that removed all the cubes from a treasure, leaving her on the exact location and allowing her to immediately recover it. I never saw it coming as she had been moving randomly for a few previous turns, or so I thought. There was a simultaneous sense of both pride and dread because while she was sneaky enough to pull a fast one on dear old Dad, <i>she was sneaky enough to </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>pull a fast one </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i>on dear old Dad.</i> I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, and I know I'll be watching her a little more closely at this point.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why Tobago Is A Nice Place To Visit:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Great components and art make this look very nice on the table</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Clever design allows you to play this daily for a month and never see the same map</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- One of the more interesting deduction games we've seen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The amulets allow for some sneaky little gambits that nobody will see coming</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I Wouldn't Want To Live There:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- A little too much brain burning regarding the cubes, at least for our tastes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Zero player interaction makes it a solo adventure, but with others</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- How Moai statues got onto a Caribbean island, I'll never know</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Very few "gotcha" or exciting moments make this a very, very dry game</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I really am kind of mixed on this game, as were some of my comrades. On one hand, you have a really slick deduction mechanic that makes the game very interesting, but on the other you have this very dry, Euro-style game with very little interaction between players. I guess the only word that I can use to describe it is that of a 12 year old little girl: "funnish".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3.25/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Read more about Tobago here: http://riograndegames.com/Game/340-Tobago</i></span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-40101679339959926622014-04-04T10:13:00.002-07:002014-04-04T10:18:30.290-07:00Rampage - I'm Not Cute...I'll Mess You Up<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9n2hGwNHkkQ10pEPRZ_BxJFcdjdytlpi7nVEvA_DcIEPHOkbjDD9kghYvu_K6GaHBXeuhQ1qp8MTOl7-DOFdarFahNIFk4K4Oy2QudfCXb9Ltn2NfdZik5jGMFepWQ5KtKZWvH0WM-B8/s1600/Rambox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9n2hGwNHkkQ10pEPRZ_BxJFcdjdytlpi7nVEvA_DcIEPHOkbjDD9kghYvu_K6GaHBXeuhQ1qp8MTOl7-DOFdarFahNIFk4K4Oy2QudfCXb9Ltn2NfdZik5jGMFepWQ5KtKZWvH0WM-B8/s1600/Rambox.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd heard almost nothing about this game, except for the fact that it was a dexterity game and that it looked cutesy, but I'm a sucker for dexterity games, especially ones depicting wholesale carnage in a city of meeples. Further, I'd heard that the meeples come in six colors depicting different types of personality, such as soldiers, old men, and blondes, and that who you ate mattered. S</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ince I've had extensive appearance experience eating blondes, I thought it would be a good fit. I un-pledged my 250$ or so from the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dwarvenforge/dwarven-forges-caverns-dwarvenite-game-tiles-mini" target="_blank">new Dwarven Forge Kickstarter</a> because <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjutDBlxJxQVzkZ5RzENejPbJHG-vBaCmk7Yn_LC3xGhUMtnpVmqMsIzw8V8rkBjkMaYiRglPdIN023oR-jFlqVeyqd9P6EksBaLuIHE_PeWLposkqkNnc-5mBPDwoP9-9GX8GTZJG8T9hn/s1600/Jurassic+Park+20.jpg" target="_blank">I already have six 27-gallon tubs of the stuff</a>, and proceeded to being on a bit of a spending spree. In my house, if money gets allocated, it had better be spent, or you lose it; I ended up with Rampage, Settlers of Catan (again), Quarriors: Quartifacts (May my 12 year old suffer for this), Lords of Waterdeep (again, this makes 3 times) and Stone Age (again). That burned through maybe 3/4 of my cash and I'm holding out for something truly awesome. Feel free to recommend, and if you say "The Duke", eat a bag of dicks, because I played it 30 years ago when it was called "Chess".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyhow, Rampage caught the most immediate attention, and so it was the first to be un-boxed and played. The rules are incredibly simple, and <a href="http://www.rprod.com/" target="_blank">Repos Production</a>, the publisher, was kind enough to include a shitload of examples and a short FAQ section that did a great job of guiding us through play. As it turns out, if you were to look at this from the 10,000 foot perspective and announce that it's a kid game, you'd be wrong by several orders of magnitude. It <i>looks like a kid game</i>, but it is in fact one of the truly fucking nastiest, most utterly evil, brutally confrontational games of all time. It's like Godzilla meets Diplomacy if you play it right. Maybe that's just how we play it, but it's not at all like what the artwork would have you believe. There's a ton more game in the box than the Super Mario art illustrates.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm going to go off on a little tangent here, because it seems appropriate: As an open statement to all publishers, I'd like to point out that if you want to sell a game to gamers, don't hide the game under a coating of art that appears to have been drafted by The Lollipop Guild. This game would've been SO MUCH MORE AWESOME if it was done by some of Michael Bay's special effects artists. People wouldn't look at it as some weenie kid game, they'd look at it as the big monster game that people have pined for since Godzilla was on TV. It was a missed opportunity, at least for us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, regarding the components, it's kind of an amazing design regardless of the cartoon art, which is actually quite good despite being very youthful. One of the smartest things are that not only is it a puzzle board that actually fits together well, but the little ruins tiles that come along with the game are sticky-backed and you remove a film which allows you to glue them onto the board. This is important because you flick discs to move on the board, and if the glue boards weren't glued down, every flick would topple a building; the glued boards act as little bumper areas so that you can bounce off of them without toppling buildings. There's also the fact that you place these big wooden monsters on the discs when you're done moving so that people can take actions to knock you over, which scores points and hurts your ability to act.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beyond that, the wooden monsters have little ridges on their heads so that you can place the car tokens on top without having them slide off. Throwing cars is a big part of the game, and this was just a smart, practical design move. It's these little details that make this a very smartly designed, well thought-out game. Also, there's three unique sets of cards in the game that define which monster type you are, what your powers are, and one of the cards is a one-time use power which can be played to give you a big boost. My copy from Coolstuff Inc was shipped with some meeple stickers, which was the low point, since they are cut poorly and since the meeples aren't all cut uniformly, the stickers hang over in spots. It's also 45 minutes or so to sticker the whole thing versus five if you forego putting the meeple stickers on. Finally, I</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> will caution you to be <b>very</b> careful removing the glue liner on the back of the puzzle piece because even though I was careful and I have a high level of hand precision, I still managed to pull some of the laminated cardboard up. The good news is that a dab of <a href="http://www.plaidonline.com/mod-podge/brand/home.htm" target="_blank">Mod Podge</a> between the layers and an overnight stay under a heavy book will sort it right out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I can talk about all kinds of neat little aspects in the game, but for me, the best part of the game, to be honest, is that the actions you can take in the game. These revolve entirely around flicking cars off the top of your monster's head, putting your chin on the monster's head and blowing things over until you see stars, flicking your disc to move as I mentioned before, and my personal favorite, picking up your monster and dropping it on top of buildings, blowing them to high heaven. It's a very tactile game, to say the least, and there's not a single thing that you can do in the game that isn't inherently fun. I can't really think of any other game, even my beloved Heroscape, that can say that. My only gripe about the game, which was echoed by others, is that the board is a little too small for four players, making it a bit claustrophobic and too easy to attack other monsters. This ends up with a lot of nearly-toothless monsters, which needlessly lengthens the duration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Besides simply breaking things, the idea of the game is that you can take actions to knock over the buildings, comprised of card stock floors sandwiched between layers of meeples, and when the buildings fall, you can score by "eating" the meeples and floors. The trick is that the meeples come in six colors, and to score them, you have to have a full set of 6. Each set of 6 is worth points, unless you have a special power that allows you to score other meeples, so having 7 reds, greens, blues, yellows, and blacks, but only one grey will only net you a score for one full set, with the rest not being worth anything. The kicker here is that during the setup, when you're assembling the buildings, you randomly snatch four meeples per level and place them as the supports for the next floor. Each of the six buildings have 14 meeples each in them, and the stadium has 4, so it's not like there's two hundred or something. That's what makes the game so nasty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you play the game as a meeple hunt, biting as many in half as possible in a blind orgy of destruction, you'll be disappointed. A child would love it, but not an adult. It's banal if you play like that. The real strategy comes from figuring out how to get sets, while leaving enough meeples of colors you don't need to entice other monsters away from their current location. The best part of all is that meeple eating is governed by the monster's amount of teeth, which start at six each, and can be reduced to two through injury and attack. You may only eat one meeple per tooth, and so it's a viable strategy to attack enemies to reduce their ability to consume wooden flesh, thereby preserving the wee wooden citizens for your own appetites.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7xMaDfQoABhaWaXfZjzq1HTtRyLuPm3SoLXJL71g7uTbO0_UC110m1WR6gbTQtMfRzAz4Ii9ciTnQABsHhoexR-qprg4B1YsI0aVut8XusPKnNOUJds5FfQl_OUxvTOUgkg0TYH4GRU/s1600/toothless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7xMaDfQoABhaWaXfZjzq1HTtRyLuPm3SoLXJL71g7uTbO0_UC110m1WR6gbTQtMfRzAz4Ii9ciTnQABsHhoexR-qprg4B1YsI0aVut8XusPKnNOUJds5FfQl_OUxvTOUgkg0TYH4GRU/s1600/toothless.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How's about you kiss me hard on the mouth. Godziller?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another factor that makes this game neat is the "run away" board, a little side tableau that stores meeples that have eluded the monsters via being knocked off the board. It's double sided and has several sections, with each having a set amount of spaces per section before calamity strikes the monster that knocked the last one in a section off. It's another facet of the game that allows you to pursue alternate strategies, such as intentionally knocking off just the right amount of meeples so that the following player has to be incredibly careful or suffer the loss of a tooth and other tragedies. I'm telling you, for as many teeth as are lost in an hour of play, this game might've been called Kentucky Rampage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The long and short is that you should never judge a book by its cover, and with Rampage, this adage is incredibly apt. I am disappointed that they went the King of Tokyo route on this instead of making it a really grim, dark monster game, but that disappointment is tempered by the fact that this game is fucking awesome on every level. I rarely say something is for everyone, or a true "auto-buy", but if you don't own this, you're missing out. If you don't like this game, there's something seriously wrong with you. Not a single person I played with, from a 47 year old man to a 12 year old girl, had anything but great things to say about it. There's very few games that are so universally lauded, repeatedly, by my groups. I think the only downside is that the temptation to play it over and over again will eventually lead to burn-out, but 6 games in I'm still fine with playing it again, and this is over the span of 4 days. My real gripe is that I can't get Stone Age to the table, but I suspect that has everything to do with the smell of the dice cup.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I Want To Go On A Rampage:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- While very cartoony, the art is good and the components are very high quality</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The design of the board is brilliant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Replay value is huge, with tons of different power and creature combinations</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- There are not a lot of rules, and the rules help the game rather than hinder it</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Anyone can play this game, but it's not as simple to play well</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why Tokyo Is Safe:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The art is cartoony, and some of us would've preferred more dark, grim art</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- With a board 5" larger in each direction, it would've been better for 4 player matches</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't begin to tell you how much we love this little gem. This immediately took a place on our Forever Shelf, next to the likes of <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/05/survive-escape-from-atlantis-less-about.html" target="_blank">Survive</a>, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/08/zooloretto-enslave-animals-and.html" target="_blank">Zooloretto</a>, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/01/castle-ravenloft-why-its-justified-to.html" target="_blank">Ravenloft</a>, and <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/04/pandemic-plague-induced-fall-of-man-has.html" target="_blank">Pandemic</a>. I can't remember a game so universally accessible, easy to learn, easy to teach, and fun to play. With Spring Break starting today, I plan to pit my 5 year old against my 12 year old which will keep them occupied, but once they're in bed, the wife and I are going to bust out some cocktails and get down with some monster fun. I'm dead serious - this game is a 100% sure-fire auto-buy in our opinions, and I can't see anyone not having a great time with it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My only caveat is that you view it as a serious strategy-dexterity game like <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/10/ascending-empires-proving-that.html" target="_blank">Ascending Empires </a>despite the game's mechanics and look; if you simply play to eat more meeples than the next guy, you might be disappointed in the long term. There's more to this game than meets the eye, and if you play it as the scoring system intends, there's something wrong with you if you don't love it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.75/5 Stars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Check the game out here: http://rprod.com/index.php?page=description-43</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>I'm not cute, I'll mess you up...</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrgRYeB_edw</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The enormous monster crotch catapult...</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COFMBR7gbhg</i></span></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-35059987470915580372014-04-02T17:36:00.002-07:002014-04-02T17:37:07.434-07:00Wreck Age: Post-Apocalyptic Wargaming Done Right<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsJyvFyX0pQR7l6yXhra1YRFpNkhfVj_z0oHlY0oy9mCTPRcQt_3v4KpDPMkR7tutOyF-lx3APO7worzfZzr-Rjb8fhj3b4Pfau_pgbuLA84ujeVjuntbGm3Z_2x_d0VSsIbdYpBwyC4/s1600/Wreck+Age+Title.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHsJyvFyX0pQR7l6yXhra1YRFpNkhfVj_z0oHlY0oy9mCTPRcQt_3v4KpDPMkR7tutOyF-lx3APO7worzfZzr-Rjb8fhj3b4Pfau_pgbuLA84ujeVjuntbGm3Z_2x_d0VSsIbdYpBwyC4/s1600/Wreck+Age+Title.JPG" height="202" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For me, the gold standard for a miniatures game has little to do with the fiction that created the world where the game takes place, and even less to do with the miniatures. Miniatures are awesome, and I have a lifelong love affair with them, but I don't think that the quality or look of the miniatures has anything to do with whether the game is good or not. The fiction might augment a game that's already good, but if the game is bad, it's like putting beautiful, fresh cut flowers on top of a festering garbage can. In short, many things can aid a good game and make it great, but the window dressing is just that: something to augment the game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdvNMN4S5ngWguqqqxF2gfwyYBs0aBX3sO-EPMUdTsJwYcc3PLE8GtCJ0rvneX2FI263BeoldIplikm4ZYUNhkfoO74aEeaH4TYHz5VL-UW2lIS60BZtcnIPOML10ZjJ8pP6d52yXOcI/s1600/WA+Artwork+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVdvNMN4S5ngWguqqqxF2gfwyYBs0aBX3sO-EPMUdTsJwYcc3PLE8GtCJ0rvneX2FI263BeoldIplikm4ZYUNhkfoO74aEeaH4TYHz5VL-UW2lIS60BZtcnIPOML10ZjJ8pP6d52yXOcI/s1600/WA+Artwork+1.JPG" height="183" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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To that end, everything that surrounds the rules themselves, from weapons and equipment, skills and perks, and the most important factor - campaign rules - are what make any miniatures game worth playing, in my opinion. It's what makes <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2012/12/strange-aeons-two-parts-cthulhu-2-parts.html" target="_blank">Strange Aeons</a> so incredible, for instance. Now, I've held "<a href="http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/4047419/1/" target="_blank">Wastelands 3: Total Meltdown</a>" up as the gold standard for any post-apocalyptic miniature skirmish game because its campaign is so well devised and executed that everything else that I have ever played prior to that looked like a rotting horse carcass in comparison. Well, to a great extent, the new miniatures game, <a href="http://wreck-age.net/" target="_blank">Wreck Age</a>, has trumped it because of the level of depth involved while remaining understandable and playable for experienced miniature gamers.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wreck Age, simply put, is an RPG with deep skirmish rules as the core, driving mechanic for the game. To me, it's not unlike Robotech RPG in that many people buy the entire rulebook, but only play the skirmish rules. This book is every bit of 244 pages long, and is full of beautiful artwork, charts, and little flavor text sidebars that give examples of play. It reminds me a lot of <a href="http://www.wargamedownloads.com/item.php?item=255&Site=BGG" target="_blank">Bablyon's Burning</a> in that much of the book is written in the form of stories, and that just the stories alone make it worth reading, despite the fact that there's also a game. The artwork adds to that, because it is some of the best artwork I've ever seen in a post-apocalyptic game, and it adds so much to the reading, since storytelling has become such a visual medium these days. If nothing else, the art makes it easier to explain the scope of the game to players, since a picture is truly worth a thousand words.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The theme of the game surrounds this very rich fiction about the depletion of the world's resources, the plan to leave Earth, and a giant lie told by the aristocrats that left much of Earth's populace left behind to wither on the vine. Not only is it plausible, but the story and rules were written in such a way that the story is integral to the game play, therefore making your adventures in post-apocalyptic Earth fit seamlessly into the narrative presented in the built-in scenarios and characters. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the things we all really dug about this game is that it has a very strong "western" influence on the theme; sure, there's plasma weapons and laser rifles, but there's also revolvers. The art exudes this and everything about the game is linked in some way to the theme of humanity rebuilding itself after we, essentially, mined the planet dry and the richest folks got the hell out of Dodge. It's really irrelevant to the game itself, but with the whole kind of "space-faring age mixed with western frontier sensibilities" vibe to it, we really kind of dug it. I'm a Firefly guy; not a superfan or anything, but I like the show and the theme, so this kind of hit that same note with me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A major difficulty we faced in reviewing this game as a whole has everything to do with the fact that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_ekugPKqFw" target="_blank">while I am a former RPG player</a>, none of the others in my group are, or ever have been except for Mickey, <a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/1017487_10151916779909078_1116827993_n.jpg" target="_blank">who would never admit to it</a>. The first 33 pages are nothing but story that develop the narrative, and it is an amazingly well written and engaging read that frames the game. This was primarily meant for RPGers, so that GM's can give the context to players the sessions and explain "the reason" for the situation, as well as provide a backdrop to the campaign. For me, all it did was give me a really great story to read while sitting on the commode, and give me a lot more paper to print and bind. In fact, the rules themselves don't actually come into play until the 50th page, so from the standpoint of reviewing the "game", that's where I'll start. Before I go any further, I need to divulge that I got the PDF sent to me by the publisher, Hyacinth Games, and furthermore, I did some editing and writing work for them, pro bono, because I believe in the game. I elaborated more on this and my experience with it, which can be found at the bottom of this review for your amusement.(*) The short version is that I got one Adepticon promo model and the PDF download version of the rules from them, and it's worth mentioning this kind of stuff because it's important that my readers know everything about these sorts of transactions so that you can weigh this information against the review. Anyhow, let's carry on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As far as mechanics go, at its core, it's a simple D6-based game that has you chucking small handfuls of dice at one another, with the central goal of passing tests. If you're looking to shoot someone, you need to pass a shooting test which entails rolling the amount of dice equal to the shooter's skill at shooting, and rolling above the weapon's target number at the given shot range. There are modifiers to the target number, such as the target being under cover, but the long and short is that each die that hits the bogey is counted as a success. If a hit was scored, the attacker and defender roll against each other, with the attacker rolling his weapon's power value against the defender's; if more attacker's dice succeed, the damage done is equal to the number of dice that were not "blocked" by the defender's successes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Combat, for that matter, is wholly brutal and swift, which makes the game sail along at a brisk pace. One wound damages a character's abilities, two wounds put a character out of action for the rest of the encounter unless they can make a very lucky roll at the end of a round, or if someone else stabilizes them, which downgrades them to wounded status. Now, a third wound essentially delivers a mortal wound, and without prompt help from a friendly, they will absolutely die; no lucky rolls can save them. If a fourth wound is delivered, that character is immediately killed in action, dead on the spot, and is FUBAR. Wounds are cumulative, so an out of action character who is unable to defend themselves is a very, very delicious soft target. I cannot tell you how many times I've placed an improvised mine on a downed figure, just to watch him roll that lucky 6 on his end-of-round saving roll and subsequently to burst like a ketchup-filled water balloon thanks to my unavoidable mine. Watching the hope disappear from an opponent's eyes when he rolls that first 6 to get back up from death's doorstep, but then fails to block the explosion....that's fucking priceless, right there. That's what Ameritrash is all about - standing on the brink of the pit where hope goes to die, and watching your buddies fall down it. Even more so when you're the one who pushed them in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, all of the game's actions are resolved in this manner, by either a test against the character's abilities, skills, or traits, or in the form of an opposed test where another player is actively seeking their ruination during the endeavor. This is a simple, very fast playing system that is not really all that novel, but the fact is that even though this is a "me go, you go" alternating activation system, it really seems to be faster playing than many other skirmish games. There's just not that much fucking around with Wreck Age; you can surely min-max "power game" to try to be more competitive or something, but at the end of the day, it's much more of a narrative game than a tournament game, although <a href="http://www.wreck-age.net/index.php/2012-02-16-16-52-44/3-news/769-wreck-age-tournament-at-adepticon-2014" target="_blank">they are having some promotional tournaments</a> at the Harry Carey Ballroom during <a href="http://www.adepticon.org/wpfiles/2014/2014schedule.pdf" target="_blank">Adepticon</a> this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What sets Wreck Age apart is that it integrates a great many of the RPG elements into skirmishes, so that instead of simply being pigeonholed into an "accomplish X task or kill all the bad guys" kind of game, it can be as deep and complex as you want, and there's underlying rules to support it. This allows huge flexibility in actions taken by a character, and the framework of the rules allow people to do off-the-wall shit, agree on the difficulty of the task if it's not specifically in the rules, and then perform a test to see if it worked. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As an example of the system's ability to create varied scenarios, one I recently played, which incidentally was the first I ever played, has you attempting to send suicide-bomber boars into a settlement to destroy a gate. In contrast, another stock one I played has you attempting to infiltrate a village through ancient sewer tunnels in order to subdue and kidnap the opposing force's players and their patrons in order to harvest their organs...while they're still alive. This kind of richness allows for players to have widely varied experiences in a campaign, and the book includes several skirmish scenarios which are all quite different. Additionally, <a href="http://wreck-age.net/images/BreakDownTheWallsScenarios.pdf" target="_blank">you can download a short, 3-scenario campaign</a> which we used to review the game, amongst others found on their forums, such as the aforementioned kidnapping scenario.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The beauty of the system is that players such as myself, who just want to engage in skirmishes or skirmish campaigns, can easily put these together because there are a sea of character archetypes, complete with point values, to drop into play. To a great degree, if you want to create interesting and plausible scenarios, this is where all that potty reading comes into play, because you have numerous locales and "motivations" to draw from in order to craft them. Thus, players and GM's alike can create these on the fly, without really thinking too hard about it, choose a point value, and outfit their crew using the point values, expressed as "resource units" to fit their play style. There is a very broad range of weapons, weapon classes, skills, and traits to choose from, and the rules allow for after-action cleanup which allow a player's crew to advance in skills, change archetypes, or purchase and craft new, better equipment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Additionally, there are numerous factions to choose from, ranging from stoic settlers to desperate raiders and from technology worshiping ideologues to drug-addled, hedonistic sociopaths. Every faction has its strengths and weaknesses, and there's a sort of "faction purity" mechanic that disallows cross-pollination between factions to a great extent, so games are generally played as a force-on-force skirmish between two or more factions. At one point we played a five-player skirmish I came up with in about 10 minutes, where the goal was to explore an abandoned military base and recover its caches of supplies, for example. Each player took command of two to three members of a faction, using pre-built characters, and we had an incredible time. It was a bloodbath, to say the least, and in the end, only four characters survived and most of the battleground was littered with half-recovered supply crates and bodies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The one thing that I'd caution prospective players on is that this is not Heroscape. It's not a simple, cut-and-dry skirmish game by any standard, and for a group that plays many skirmish games it was quite accessible and easy to play, for someone unfamiliar with deeper skirmish games it will take a few games to really get their head wrapped around it, so to speak. There are a great many charts and tables in this game, although much of it is more tuned for the RPG referee/DM/narrator, but there are complexities in the game that makes it special, and I'd argue that it's worth the slight amount of extra time to learn them. One example is that weapons and equipment have a quality rating that represents the level of maintenance done to it. A cheap, homemade rifle is not going to be as resilient or accurate as a factory, out of the box assault rifle, for instance. There's also weapons malfunctions, morale checks, and other factors that come into play which all add up to it being a very good simulation of a skirmish. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If there's one truly egregious failing of this game, it's that while there's random scavenging rules, there's not really any random campaign or scenario rules. I know this is asking a lot, and I begged them to include something, but as it rests, you can't sit with a group and roll some dice to figure out what you're going to play that session, using their crew to drop into the scenario. This very thing is what set Wastelands 3 apart from the pack, and the fact that there's 244 pages in the book, but very few that would allow players to just sit and play a random scenario, is an oversight in my opinion. One redeeming feature is that </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you want to get your feet wet with an entry-level scenario that you can just sit down and play, </span><a href="http://wreck-age.net/index.php/resources/quickstart" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">you can download the quick start rules</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> (once they've revised them...right now it's a 404 error), </span><a href="http://wreck-age.net/index.php/resources/stat-cards" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">download the character cards</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, and throw whatever models you have lying around onto the table to have a go at it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, this company will likely not make much money on the books, because there's not much money to be had in it unless your initials are "<a href="http://jkirkpearson.com/album/please-dont-sue-me" target="_blank">GW</a>". What they hope to make money on is on their line of models, which are incredible. They've contracted sculptors such Tom Mason, Michael Jenkins, Pierre Francois Jacquet, and Sylvain Quirion to create their models, and I shit you not, they are amazing. I've purchased three of the box sets and several blisters myself, and while I've only painted a few, I can't wait to get the rest of these done. Thus far, I've been playing with the now-defunct <a href="http://megaminis.com/" target="_blank">Mega Miniatures</a> models I bought during the last days of their reign, as well as some "Nova Corps" Reaper models from <a href="http://wscam.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">While they originally sold packages of models ranging from $40-$50 for 5-9 white metal models made up of a faction per box set, the</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">y're in the middle of changing their box format to "scenario packs" which contain several figures from one faction and then several more from another. Each box will contain a scenario or campaign, the cards for the models, and a set of quickstart rules. On top of that, they're going to be selling a package deal with the softcover rules packed with a starter set of models, although I'm not privy to the price at this point. All I can tell you is that you're not going to find a collection of metal, post-apocalyptic models that are this nice anywhere, except maybe from Lead Adventure's "Last Project" line, and even they are far too "<a href="http://www.tsoalr.com/comics/2012-08-27-669_fixDave72.gif" target="_blank">GW cartoony</a>" for my tastes, although I appreciate that they're very nice models.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFmnOlkioBl71sohyJ9_wCh-JpukR6jXmMJXO5NevxEuksv5QPDVr5bUTmnTkPnGu-6nMDv7ONg6UZNtbWX3yRt1oxL4IOytpqyRDKDH_VesKslqxAHKEajoeXIyFVgBrsUuXW5Hx8wg/s1600/barricades+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFmnOlkioBl71sohyJ9_wCh-JpukR6jXmMJXO5NevxEuksv5QPDVr5bUTmnTkPnGu-6nMDv7ONg6UZNtbWX3yRt1oxL4IOytpqyRDKDH_VesKslqxAHKEajoeXIyFVgBrsUuXW5Hx8wg/s1600/barricades+(1).jpg" height="170" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They also have a bunch of terrain and scenery, which will be packaged into some of these packs, not the least of which are their resin crates and vendor carts, which are very, very nice. In fact, one of the owners just announced today that they'll be launching at some never-before seen terrain at Adepticon, this week in Chicago, and from the look of them they're easily on par with <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/06/beware-armorcasts-bearing-stores.html" target="_blank">Armorcast</a> and others as far as quality of the models. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The long and short is that this game is nearly flawless, in my mind, and if you're interested in a great skirmish game that has depth and accessibility, this may be the one. The models are fantastic, the art in the book is mostly very good, and we all really enjoy playing it. Unlike so many reviews where after we've undergone the process we're ready for a break from the game, we'll probably be playing this next weekend or the weekend after. That's pretty telling, since it's a pain in the ass to get my game room rearranged to allow our big six by three table out to play these kinds of games. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I'd Stick Around After The Exodus:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The models are outstanding, and most of the art is wonderful</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Of 244 pages, maybe 40 constitute skirmish rules, and it's easy to learn and play</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The use of sidebar stories to explain mechanics is genius</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Built-in scenarios and "quick start rules" make this easy to get to the table often</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why Wreck Age Might Be A Train Wreck:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The lack of randomized campaigns and tons of scenarios really chaps my ass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Where the artwork isn't outstanding, it's dodgy as fuck, and doesn't fit in well</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Of 244 pages, maybe 40 constitute skirmish rules, and the rest are fluff and RPG content</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The lack of randomized campaigns and tons of scenarios really chaps my ass (**)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I can't recommend this enough to fans of the post-apocalyptic genre, or really, any miniatures gamers who prefer narrative games over Warhammer 40K-style mass army deployments. Although I know absolutely fuck all about what a modern RPG should look like, from the standpoint of a richly detailed skirmish game, I can't recommend it enough. I put my money where my mouth is, and all of the Circus folks really enjoy it. Hell, Dave Roswell from <a href="http://fortressat.com/" target="_blank">Fortress: Ameritrash</a> liked it, and he's a hard sell on anything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Check Hyacinth Games out here... </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>http://wreck-age.net/</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>...and be sure to check back regularly (after 2 weeks) because a lot of changes will be made to their web store, their product line, and the whole shebang. Also keep an eye out for the PDF on BitTorrent, because it will eventually be seeded there by Hyacinth Games in order to get people into the game. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(*)While I receive absolutely no money for it, I did some writing for the Hyacinth Games guys. I've been following this game and its development for over a year, having found it by sheer accident while looking for an heir to my previous favorite post-apoc game. I got to preview the rules in a closed Beta, or something resembling one, and it was a fucking train wreck for the most part, but the good parts were so good I wanted to get involved. The fact is that these guys were frustrated and spent, and if someone didn't help them soon, the game would never be "released", and I would be denied my new favorite shiny, so fuck that shit. I volunteered because I wanted to see the game for sale at some point in my lifetime. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The "rules guy" had great ideas and a great game, but he seemed to lack the skill set to effectively communicate them in writing, which is what I do for a living, and so I stepped in as an editor/writer to help them, on a pro bono basis. Turns out that I'll never do that shit again, as long as I live, because it's thankless, tedious, demanding work.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After almost a month or so of working 8 hours a night on it, going back and forth via Skype text messages, I sent it over to them and was utterly shit on by the guy who did the original rules, primarily because I re-wrote and formatted them in their entirety. The original was what amounts to a poorly-devised flowchart that he was actually going to clean up, then publish as-is, which would've looked like all kinds of ass and been totally fucking unplayable unless he was there, explaining it to you as you played. Anyhow, i</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">t was a total blow-up with cursing, and yelling, and nastygrams, and so I walked away from the gig at that point. To reiterate, I just re-wrote the existing rules up and moved sections around to be better organized and more understandable, and I rewrote some of the other content so it made sense, or sounded better.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">As it turns out, all the fussing was for naught, because the final version contains almost all of my edits and most of the writing changes I made (and fixes to my text where I got rules horribly wrong, to be fair), so I am a little biased, to say the least, despite the writing/editing/dealing with the Hyacinth guy being one of the most painful, frustrating experiences I've ever had in this life or lives past, and one that should've totally soured me on this game and had me plot to destroy them wholly and utterly, forever. I explained the experience to my wife like this: It's like giving a kid a car for his 16th birthday and having him tell you he hates it, subsequently pouring gas all over it and burning it on your lawn. Then, the next day, that same son steals your wallet, buys the EXACT SAME CAR, but with a different color and some different options, and parks it next to the smoking ruins of your gift. Just fucking ugly all around, but it worked out OK, and many months later we're friends. They're good guys, but they were just under a LOT of stress. Shit, they still are, but now at least they have a bad ass game to play with their bad ass miniatures.</span></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Because of my involvement, I have recused myself from the scoring of this game and as an added insulation, I didn't divulge to the Circus that I had been a party to the writing; I simply told them that Wreck Age was finally out, and I wanted to try out the new rules with them. Now, they knew I was working on ~something~ but I was working on 3 different games at the time, one of them for a well-known publisher, and I don't share the details on what I'm doing until it's ready for play-testing. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, when taking this review into consideration, please remember that while I was a party to the editing and formatting, and only then in the rules sections, this review is unbiased from the scoring perspective given by the rest of the Circus group. As I said, I received no money for this endeavor, and I have not received anything from Hyacinth Games that other reviewers have been offered. In fact, they are going to be seeding the PDF, for free, on BitTorrent to get more people into the game. Finally, I did put my money where my mouth is, spending almost all of my GenCon budget last year buying Wreck Age models, scenery, and markers. So far, I've spent around $230.00 on their product. If I had been able to vote in the scoring sessions, though, this would be a 4.5-4.75, with the real bitch being the lack of randomized campaign rules. I'm currently trying to integrate the Wastelands 3 campaign rules into the Wreck Age world, solely because they are simply the most extensive, awesome set of rules I've ever seen.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(**) This is NOT a typo. This fucks me off so much that I had to list it twice.</span></i></span></div>
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=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-32693446941963155462014-02-06T13:19:00.000-08:002014-02-06T13:19:19.404-08:00Duel Of Ages II: Sorry Magic Realm, You've Been Fired<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUBK9i1ZUKIwhbVdvg6EVuMKtN3vex3IN19-96iuUizjGQLN0QA2_KzYe2im7T8p6e8CTwcsBIN9KrcwGNRsTxVtftfsodnJwGZsbvZFG3050i0r0lAgefvMFaH3jAO7p4U9dHTYp13lY/s1600/DOA2+Boxes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUBK9i1ZUKIwhbVdvg6EVuMKtN3vex3IN19-96iuUizjGQLN0QA2_KzYe2im7T8p6e8CTwcsBIN9KrcwGNRsTxVtftfsodnJwGZsbvZFG3050i0r0lAgefvMFaH3jAO7p4U9dHTYp13lY/s1600/DOA2+Boxes.JPG" height="157" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some games are so astonishingly good that despite some blemishes, it's impossible to not love them; you are compelled to look past the small things and truly cherish the game because of the game play experience itself. These games defy traditional design and transcend the frothing seas of mediocrity and set forth to completely change what people think a game can be. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.duelofages.com/Home/DOAIndex" target="_blank">Duel of Ages II</a> (DoA2), from Worldspanner, is one of those games. After reading the <a href="http://www.nohighscores.com/2013/11/07/cracked-lcd-a-conversation-with-brett-murrell-duel-of-ages-ii-designer-part-1/" target="_blank">very fine review</a> series by Fortress: Ameritrash's resident tastemaker, Michael Barnes, I fully understand that the designer, Brett Murell isn't so much trying to buck the system with a game that is completely out of the norm, he simply doesn't recognize the norm as worthy of consideration. The dude's a straight up gaming gangster, and deserves admiration for the balls it took to not only self-publish, but self publish something that is so divergent from an industry that has had the great games diluted in a sea of dross.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Esoteric Order of Gamers</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you've never played the original Duel of Ages, you really missed out, but you can make up for that lapse by playing this iteration, because while it was a fine game, DoA2 makes it look very weak and unorganized in comparison. So often a 'sequel' is nothing more than a watered down product that found a way to damage the concept of the original, while muddying the things that made people want more of it, but DoA2 hits on all 12 cylinders and literally knocks it out of the park. Duel of Ages was good, but was greatly dragged down by over-complexity presented as a sea of situational rules that just made the game a hair too much work to really enjoy for what it was. Well, several years later, DoA2 fixed everything wrong with the original and added some new spice to create what I can only call a "game for almost everyone". It's not so much a game as an experience, and every time I've played (and it's been a LOT) we've managed to have an incredibly fun time. In fact, I've had this game to the table probably 12 times now and I'm still not sure what's around the corner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you want to talk components, let me tell you, this box ships at eight pounds, and there's more cardboard in this than you can imagine. There's a million cards in the box, all with different purposes, but the immense volume of cards allows that you can literally play the game for a year straight through and you will never actually get to play with every card. If, God forbid, you are the kind of player who has to be a completist, well, you're going to need to get the Collector's Bundle, which brings into play a small stack of terrain platters, and you'll also want the Master Set, which despite its name is not stand-alone, but rather an eight pound supplement that brings a whopping 140+ new characters into play, a metric assload of terrain platters, and a whole lot more of what makes the game so special. In short, this game makes Heroscape green with envy in its scope, and the best part is that you don't have to go out hunting boosters - all of the characters, weapons, treasures, enemies, and terrain you'll ever need are all in the box from the get-go. It's a huge value, to say the least. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, there's a few of the real stand-outs in the crowd regarding the components that are so exceptionally well produced that they need special mention. First, most of the artwork is utterly mind blowing. It's all done by actual artists and must've cost a fortune to commission. Now, not <i>all</i> of it is on the same level like something like <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/10/cyclades-create-your-own-iliad-in-two.html" target="_blank">Cyclades</a> where the entire production is mind-blowing, but at least 80% of it is as good as you're going to find in any game ever made. What's really funny to me is that the 20% of the stuff that isn't incredible is utter cheeseball; it's completely different in style and presentation. It's not that it's horrible, it's just so different from the really great stuff that it's out of place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The other thing I want to mention is the modular map design, presented as triangular and hexagonal "platters" that lock together to form the map. Not only are they so copious that you will play dozens of times before exploring it all, they are all designed very well both from a balance and variety standpoints, but also they are really not overloaded with icons like the cards are, so they don't distract from the players' immersion into the game world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, you're asking yourself, what is this magical game that everyone would love? Well, it's essentially a pure Ameritrash feast of death and dismemberment. You control a faction of several heroes and so does everyone else. The idea of the game is that you go around adventuring, killing monsters, gaining treasures, and beating up on your opponents. What makes it even more interesting is that it's really a hex-and-counter style adventure game that actually works but that's blended with a miniatures game, but without the miniatures. The game simply has no true peer because it's a design that I've never seen before, although it is a lovely blend of some of the mechanics that make games like Heroscape and Axis and Allies so popular. It's simply epic in scope. I hate those shitty little mental boxes that people like to put things in order to define and categorize them, and DoA2 really kind of explodes onto the table and shreds any hope that it can be categorized. It's just a really neat, cool, invigorating design that's as clever and ingenious as it is accessible and fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To make learning the game easier, the rule book, not unlike Mage Knight or, more closely, Earth Reborn, walks you in baby steps from never having played to all-out warfare. Conversely, my only complaint is that the game is, very much like Earth Reborn, loaded with icons that require some level of memorization, but as noted above, you are walked through the rules in such a way that it becomes kind of second-nature, although due to the drugs I'm on (prescribed, not recreational...) I have a hell of a time remembering anything so I have to admit that I sometimes have to look back at the rules to refresh myself. Now, what you need to understand is that the game is played out as a series of tests, because whenever your heroes attempt pretty much anything other than moving around, they have to perform a "challenge" which means comparing scores against the appropriate icon, and then rolling to see if they can pass the test. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All in all, there's an atmosphere of real adventure in the game, and that's what makes it special. There's no telling what you'll find in any given area, and you're just as likely to find a laser rifle as you are to find a cavalry sword. Part of the fun is having these pseudo-historical figures running around, exploring, and having an Annie Oakley style "girl gunfighter" beating a Conan style, naked-torso warrior (or <a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1727297_md.jpg" target="_blank">Solomon Kane</a>) to death with a meat cleaver. There's just <i>so damned many</i> characters in the game, from super-heroes to little green men, that you can't help but become breathless with awe or laughter as you are randomly assigned the most improbable groups of warriors to fight on your behalf. Honestly, that might be a good one-third of the fun of the game; the anticipation to see what is on each card is palpable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If I were pressed to make one complaint about the game, that blemish that I spoke about at the outset of this article, it's the icons. I am unabashedly against games putting massive doses of icons on each card, or worse, on the game board. I can handle icons on the cards, since I know that they have to exist to confer information to the players, but it just bugs me. I'm old-school in the sense that I like to have text, such as "Dexterity: 18", on the card because it means that I don't have to remember that the little black icon of a dude jumping means "Dexterity". It's a mental block for me, and it's my problem, so I hate them. Worse, they're integral into the game itself and are used constantly, so that makes it even more onerous for someone like me. Surprisingly, after the first game, you have them down pat for the most part. The icons are very intuitive and just seem to make sense, although I, personally, would rather see itty-bitty text or something. As you can tell, if that's the biggest bitch I can come up with after playing this game well over a dozen times, that speaks to the quality of the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gameplay, the only thing that really matters, is also very tight and keeps a reasonably brisk pace. The "coin of the realm" is elicited in the form of "achievements", and the game is very flexible in goals so that you can tailor your experience to suit your needs - you can set the game up to end in a certain amount of time, turns, or when a set amount of achievement points are earned. I prefer the two-hour format because it inhibits the "gang up on the leader" which can happen if people are keeping close tabs on points. We simply prefer to play for ourselves, achieving as much as we can, rather than simply chasing the leader down and racing for points. A race is a race, and an adventure is an adventure, so we choose the latter, and it's one hell of a good time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I'd Duel You For A Platter:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Great artwork helps immerse you in the game setting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Brisk and strategically deep play keeps people from sitting around</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The rules are surprisingly easy to learn due to the "baby steps" approach</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Modular design and wealth of unique elements give this mind-boggling replay value</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The value of the package is immense; $45.00 for what you get is a steal</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I'd Rather Watch The Burr-Hamilton Duel:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Icons on the cards can be a real pain to decipher, initially</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- There's a lot of randomness in the game, which can be a pro or con, depending</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's just nothing like Duel of Ages II on the market; it's part Warhammer Quest, part Mage Knight Board Game, part Runebound, part Magic Realm. It's as if the designer chose the best elements of some of the best "true" adventure games and blended them together to produce what I can only describe as a masterpiece. If you like adventure games, and can handle the utterly nonsensical random pairings of characters, weapons, and abilities, then this game is a no-brainer. The value is immense due to the replayability, and the game can be tuned to your own tastes so easily and intuitively that it really is just a set of rules and some bits that establish your own personal fantasy playground. The long and short is that this is the game that Magic Realm wishes it was: accessible, beautiful, and nothing short of amazing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.75/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Learn more at the Worldspanner website, here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.duelofages.com/</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's a great video tutorial out there too, which really puts the nuts to the bolts when it comes to explaining the gameplay itself:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/33541/duel-of-ages-ii/box-of-delights-presents-duel-of-ages-ii</span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-64212210688648868322013-11-26T08:32:00.001-08:002013-11-26T08:32:32.887-08:00The Circus Was Hacked!Ladies and Gentlemen, it's both a sad and humorous day here at the Circus.<br />
<br />
This site was hacked, and I'm not even mad about it. Apparently, the only thing affected was that the "Language and Metaphor Policy" link on the left was redirected.....<br />
<br />
....TO THIS PAGE:<br />
<a href="http://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-2-stain-remover-and-color-booster-liquid/">http://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-2-stain-remover-and-color-booster-liquid/</a><br />
<br />
Oh. My. God.<br />
<br />
<br />
Well Played, random internet hacker. Well played.=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-177236231673876682013-10-28T14:22:00.001-07:002013-10-28T14:33:05.177-07:00Thrash-Car KS Preview - Part Days Of Thunder, Part Special Olympics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6VprFVgcG395Fwj-MuDNIwC4k9LILFZCY73ef4BeYaaPoH-HI_YGO8lcSa-L_JZH45J4epgJyVjPfEFYXg4KmfVQk3rlUGj-1dpCfFnaI9vHH-7EKRSPtGKV5Cu1KeF16-fVwrHnWT4/s1600/Thrash1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="45" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6VprFVgcG395Fwj-MuDNIwC4k9LILFZCY73ef4BeYaaPoH-HI_YGO8lcSa-L_JZH45J4epgJyVjPfEFYXg4KmfVQk3rlUGj-1dpCfFnaI9vHH-7EKRSPtGKV5Cu1KeF16-fVwrHnWT4/s400/Thrash1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When Dave Killingsworth, the owner of SolarFlare Games and designer of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThrashCarGame" target="_blank">Thrash-Car</a>, asked me to do a preview of this game, I was a little hesitant because I'm pretty much convinced that the "car racing with combat" style of game has reached its apex with <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/03/rush-n-crush-bringing-road-rage-to.html" target="_blank">Rush N' Crush</a>, but I like racing games, so I figured I'd take a look. I warned Dave that if I get a review copy, it's getting reviewed regardless of whether I love it or hate it, and he is to be admired for his courage. Suffice it to say that while the game has some merit, like many Kickstarter games, it seems like the kind of game that could've used a little more development and perhaps more exposure to all kinds of different people so that they could get some feedback to make it more than it otherwise is. It's certainly not what I'd expect to find in a hobby game, and I think it would do well in a mass-market, Wal-Mart aisle instead of at the local FLGS. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thrash-Car is a card-driven car racing game where players speed around tracks by playing cards and rolling dice. It's very adversarial and exhibits what I would call "screw your neighbor" kind of play; the core of the game has you playing cards against your opponents to slow them down and mess with them. If you're in the same space as opponents, you can attack them with a "trading paint" attack, rolling dice and playing cards to gain the upper hand. It's very funny and has great artwork including some from one of my favorite artists, Jason "CupidsArt" Benningfield. On paper, it really sounds like a winner, but in practice it's an incredibly simple game that is very "beer and pretzels". We, at the Circus, all agree that it's too simple, but that said, I think it's fun for what it is. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the Circus members now refers to it as "Days of Blunder", if that's any indication.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeuxFagPzeb-eAhmD1bX8cL04OB5x0h4lXKzirt5a13lZWlunjKPg63UQ1qaGYaiIFCT4988mnfrhgJmAPnMPrgzUIsG9h3-6kPFeiMoKIoZ5Q9PuMA4GEVZlWuqBmlf13ua7u2HqBRI/s1600/Thrash5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVeuxFagPzeb-eAhmD1bX8cL04OB5x0h4lXKzirt5a13lZWlunjKPg63UQ1qaGYaiIFCT4988mnfrhgJmAPnMPrgzUIsG9h3-6kPFeiMoKIoZ5Q9PuMA4GEVZlWuqBmlf13ua7u2HqBRI/s320/Thrash5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd talk about the components but, as noted, it's a preview of a Kickstarter campaign that's going live in a few days, so all I can tell you is that the board has two tracks, one with four spaces and another with six. The card art has been previewed and it's very nice looking, with cartoony characters that lampoon the <a href="http://uberhumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/wanker.jpg" target="_blank">NASCAR</a> fanbase quite a bit, and it's all very humorous. I think that the game is really nice looking from what I've seen on their site, from some of the promo images I'm privy to, and from the nice prototype package I was sent. I think, from a production perspective, that this game will look very nice and really fit into the "satire game" genre very well. I was also sent a 3-D model of one of the cars and if it's representative of the final product, it will certainly be top quality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, while most of us had some fun playing it, I stand by the assertion that it's just too simple. It's something that I would expect out of <a href="http://www.gutbustingames.com/" target="_blank">Gut Bustin' Games</a>; a mass-market kind of game that is geared toward people who aren't used to playing <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=23" target="_blank">Runebound</a> or Rush N' Crush, where the rules are heavier and the experience deep. This isn't pejorative, either, because I think that this is what Dave wanted it to be. My major complaints about the game revolve around the lack of many spaces, and the fact that if you don't play the game a couple times to realize that the game is really a "gang up on the leader" kind of game, you'll have one guy getting out in front and staying there. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Card management is a big mechanic in the game since cards can help you, hurt others, or do both, and so playing the right card at the right time is important. There's tons of cards, most unique, so if you like the game you'll have to play a lot of games to see every card in the deck. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4j9YFw9aP42FLpvfkOAFTkCQY-i-oq0a6OH9Z85P8P0o5nDDVgcxuuVI7CkKkkF0O_beSQs8M5G2gEdDw_HwoDcr1Mt0yLc_EaUVzjGkTriz78EntFWZ5jj9dUmt4xRsijh7GjKPSSHA/s1600/Thrash4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4j9YFw9aP42FLpvfkOAFTkCQY-i-oq0a6OH9Z85P8P0o5nDDVgcxuuVI7CkKkkF0O_beSQs8M5G2gEdDw_HwoDcr1Mt0yLc_EaUVzjGkTriz78EntFWZ5jj9dUmt4xRsijh7GjKPSSHA/s320/Thrash4.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Speaking of the cards, though, there is one thing that really should be mentioned that we kind of analyzed and determined to be the number one problem with the game. During each turn, you draw cards back up to seven. What this means is that you start your turn with seven cards, but the other players still have a handful to attack you with, and what ends up happening is that the player who's turn it is gets nailed repeatedly. In some ways I'd think it would play like <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/05/kill-doctor-lucky-dodging-more-murder.html" target="_blank">Kill Dr. Lucky</a> where the last guy in line has to "stop" the leader and the other players conserve cards until their turn. The fact that you always draw a full hand of cards stops this from happening, and it ends up being a blood-soaked free-for-all.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSUAs_ku9IsxlyJTLue-UTWcgTZkWRkz3khy9RQ9hiARCoVTHuT1e63dra6qYfuGqDdoyTbCvkz1vbMxAda9fZ2yXntm5ng20VdVzIFg0Y9SHy3W9iIhhjrt9oQSDgcyRCKH0w2BAfx0/s1600/Thrash2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSUAs_ku9IsxlyJTLue-UTWcgTZkWRkz3khy9RQ9hiARCoVTHuT1e63dra6qYfuGqDdoyTbCvkz1vbMxAda9fZ2yXntm5ng20VdVzIFg0Y9SHy3W9iIhhjrt9oQSDgcyRCKH0w2BAfx0/s320/Thrash2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That would be fine if there weren't so few spaces, or if you could easily advance to the next space on the track, but since everything in the game is a target-based die roll, with cards modifying the roll, it ends up being stagnant much of the time, with nobody really advancing much and cars being wrecked out. The upshot is that it takes what could've been a fast and furious 45 minute game and doubles the time involved. Unfortunately, it's a bit frustrating and there's so much luck needed in the die rolls and card draws that it feels like a much longer game than it actually is, and it's already too long for what it is. It's more about who can last longer than who can finish the race, which isn't really a racing game. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For me, personally, it seems like so much emphasis was put upon the messing with other people that it's just doesn't even feel anything like racing, but rather like a six-space version of <a href="http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=29" target="_blank">Talisman</a> with nothing but PvP encounters.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nbUXkdBXSg_Uvx2G_WxaPsOZeI1mjGU2QOVkhFYfO3Weu2SY_ZX9s9S2WrAA5jaG7ww23FHN6dpg3s4KRFeUsOAXtoSeDoYzpQDt_AlJ0Uo9pUmMwrtAYrxeiyOa2V1VprCRy_WPGbg/s1600/Thrash3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nbUXkdBXSg_Uvx2G_WxaPsOZeI1mjGU2QOVkhFYfO3Weu2SY_ZX9s9S2WrAA5jaG7ww23FHN6dpg3s4KRFeUsOAXtoSeDoYzpQDt_AlJ0Uo9pUmMwrtAYrxeiyOa2V1VprCRy_WPGbg/s320/Thrash3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the things I liked the most about the game, besides how it embraces the silliness of NASCAR and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL7n5mEmXJo" target="_blank">hilljack</a> poverty porn stereotypes that surround it, is that each racing team has its own theme and special abilities. Pairing that with the fact that there's a big upgrade deck that allows you to customize your car, there's a lot of variability in how the game is played by different teams. Still, it's very simple and it kind of feels to me that the game is an extension of one of my most hated racing games ever, Nitro Dice. It's almost like they took that craptastic mess of a game and built onto it, making it better, but still not great because the basic premise of <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/09/nitro-dice-racing-for-finish-but-only.html" target="_blank">Nitro Dice</a> just didn't work. It does give you lots of laughs, though, but the laughs get a little thin after an hour and a quarter of playing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NNeVMFsMRASq6GbgbsPDJEAIVV3zkYoW_LTf7TYKtroDLazuqrJQtyrO5Q1vzDL1J_cRGujVT_w6FIK5fGIbP_TOEO9BvheasVH7y3ZeuXiB5L2jhWsvNkmWfR6lfHiVykywoDgEdcbg/s400/Dumb+and+Dumber+2+Movie.jpg" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> project will launch in a couple of days, so check it out, watch the videos, and decide for yourself, but I have to tell you that this is not something I will back for the aforementioned reasons, although I do believe it has a place in the gaming world. It's for someone, just not us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why Dick Trickle Is Not A Bad Thing:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Really great art and interesting flavor text make this both pretty and funny</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- This has "take that" style of play in spades</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- As a "beer and pretzels" game, it's pretty solid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Pretty good as a "holiday with the folks game</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why The Only Thing Getting Thrashed Is The Time You Spent Playing:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- This does not exude racing, and as a racing game, it's pretty weak</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Drawing up to seven cards every causes pretty hectic play</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It's too long for what it is, even with the short races</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Where Rush N' Crush would be a great racing game without the combat aspect, Thrash-Car is simply not much of a racing game that would be utterly boring and repetitive without the combat. Luckily, between the "take that" card play, the confrontational nature of the game, and the funny stereotypes elicited by the flavor text and artwork, it works pretty well. I wouldn't recommend it to many people, but if I did, it would be to people who like very simple and confrontational games to play over a couple beers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you're looking for a game that is simple enough to play when the family comes into town for Christmas, but that isn't so dull and boring that you don't want to put it on the table, it's probably a really good fit. If you're a fan of Formula D(e), Rush N' Crush, or Formula Motor Racing and are looking for a solid racing game, this is not. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Now, here's the part where you'd expect a score, and I'm not going to do this because this is a preview of a Kickstarter game, and therefore it may or may not be representative of the final product. I calculated the score based on the normal Circus methods, and it's probably a great thing for Dave because the score was not all that shit hot. I will say that one person scored the game higher than the rest of us and really enjoyed a lot about the game, while the rest of us found it middling at best.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Check out more on the game here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thrash-car.com/">http://thrash-car.com/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This game rules? Maybe not, but they have rules online!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thrash-car.com/?p=309">http://thrash-car.com/?p=309</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><u><i>Superfly Circus Disclaimer:</i></u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>This is a PREVIEW of a game, and therefore no score will be listed, and the final product may vary greatly from what I just wrote. We did our level best, in good faith, to tell you all what we RECEIVED, and if the game changes during the production or development cycle, take it up with the publisher if you bought it based on this preview. I can only write about what was received, and as far as I'm concerned, Kickstarter projects are vaporware until they are actually produced and delivered. Caveat muh-vuggin Emp-tity-tor. I, as of this writing, have backed only a very small handful of products, only one of which was a game, so let this be my two cents of advice: Be very careful with Kickstarter "backing" because you can be fucked stupid just as easily as you can get delivered the game of your dreams. Whatever you do, don't use the above preview as anything other than a review of a game BEING DEVELOPED AT THE TIME OF WRITING, and the game is just as likely to be completely different than was described as it is to be exactly as described.</i></span><br />
<br />=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-66612379027317826372013-10-11T10:38:00.001-07:002013-10-11T12:25:11.809-07:00"Why Do We Always Want More?" Or, "The Cart Before The Horse" - A Purchasing Habit Analysis<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWEeHYB9Wo_j0Bid8yNlhI2QhQ8w04BUzTmNtjhz0kI3DQ2mhhi-xddobHQYrFY6XeCmU3p4uCZ6mV1B252EnRRu2ykIcF6iGL50jzC3DF3iZ2vcg5E9p20UWdU6U_ql0vabR18krma0/s1600/Crack+Cocaine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMWEeHYB9Wo_j0Bid8yNlhI2QhQ8w04BUzTmNtjhz0kI3DQ2mhhi-xddobHQYrFY6XeCmU3p4uCZ6mV1B252EnRRu2ykIcF6iGL50jzC3DF3iZ2vcg5E9p20UWdU6U_ql0vabR18krma0/s200/Crack+Cocaine.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Hi, my name is Pete, and I'm a plastic and cardboard addict. ~ Pete</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After going rounds with X-Wing and Attack Wing, I was considering the driving motivators which cause me to continually drop giant fistfuls of money down a white-hot money pit, knowingly and enthusiastically. I'm an educated guy, and I know that if I were to take the $400.00 that I've spent on the games, combined, and put it in a 8% yield IRA without any additional money added, in 30 years, it would be $4025.00. When I look at things like this, I sigh, and I laugh a little at the people who talk about buying a game as "an investment". Sorry, but there's very few games in history that can return 10x the amount paid, outside of collectible card games where one card may be worth a great deal in a short period of time. That said, you need to buy a lot of packs to get that one special card, and you need to know which cards will be valuable down the road for that to pan out. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, that whole "investment" argument is something that people do to make themselves feel a little less stupid about their actions, my own included.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, then I considered what it would be like if I were to simply buy a "base set" game, and then never buy expansions. The cost of a base game is generally an order of magnitude less than the final price paid during the "active lifespan" of a game, and if the base game is good enough to buy every damned thing that ever becomes available for a game, then isn't it really about just trying to extend the useful life of a game? If the base set is so damned good, and so good that you're willing to spend several times its original cost to extend it, is it really all that good to begin with? If it's that good, why does it need a sea of new bits thrown at it perpetually when the bits don't really add anything new to the base, but rather, just add more of the same?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is the "cart before the horse" conundrum, in my opinion. Either you need to accept that you're simply an addict who is justifying your need to collect things by the base game's intrinsic eminence, or that you're a lunatic. When you look to games that are in everyone's "top ten" lists and "game of the year lists", very few of them are games that have, or require, expansions. They stand on their own, and you can enjoy them for years without requiring any additional investment. Anyone can see this, so again, is it not putting the cart before the horse when you buy a base game that has expansions available? Is the game <i>really</i> that good if games that don't need expansions to support it are rated equally by "the masses"? Shouldn't games that offer expansions, or games that are immediately identifiable to have expansions available in short order, be rated lower than those that can stand on their own without needing any extra material?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think that the punchline here for all of us is that we all know that a game is an "experience product" and we're paying for the experience of playing it. So, by extension, we're buying these expansions to either extend or enhance the experience, not have a new experience. I cannot really name a collectible game that was truly made better by buying another card or ship or character, <i>really</i>. They open up the options available to a player, but does that make it <i>better</i>, or does it simply make it <i>more varied</i>? I believe it's the latter, and then, extending that thought further, does it not imply that if we're looking for variety rather than improvement, that we should simply buy another stand-alone game instead of buying more deeply into a collectible game? If games are an "experience product", and buying games is, at its core, attempting to have new experiences, does it not stand to reason that extending an experience is less valuable than having another totally different experience? Should we be buying two additional X-Wings and two additional TIE fighters instead of simply buying Merchants and Marauders instead for the same price?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This isn't a new idea, I'm sure, but it's something that I've been personally debating for a very long time. At the end of the day, perhaps I'm just realizing that I'm an addict, having spent a small fortune on all manners of collectible game. Not long ago I calculated the amount of money I've spent on collectible games and was aghast at how much money I'd have had to spend in 2040, had I simply put it into a 5% yield mutual fund instead of buying collectible and expandable games. We're talking nearly a hundred of thousand dollars here. I literally could've put one of my kids through two years of school in 2023 had I not spent the money I did in 2005. Even if I had simply invested in generic miniatures that could be used for several different games and occasionally purchased new rule sets, I'd have still come out way ahead.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Back to the original point, though, it seems to me that unless an expansion truly delivers a different and unique experience, based on the idea that games are indeed "experience purchases", logically speaking, it's simply not worth buying. The temptation is incredibly difficult to resist, as I found while buying two of every ship in the Star Wars X-Wing line. I mean, with so many unique squad builds, the experience had to be totally different, right? No, no it wasn't. Playing against the Falcon with TIE Interceptors or playing against two TIE fighters with an X-Wing, both found in the base set, wasn't different; it was the exact same experience, it just happened to have different models and strategies to achieve the same basic goal, using the same basic rules. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After realizing that, I started doing the math, and that scared the shit out of me. I had spent $90.00 on three base sets, and another $190.00 on the expansions. Just last week I picked up a couple more ships, in fact, adding more onto that tab. I found myself asking myself what these extra ships really offered in terms of "the experience", and sadly, I was forced to face the facts. They don't offer anything but diversity of models on the play field, and I had been sucked into yet another game with snazzy models for over $300.00 total. Playing with TIE fighters instead of TIE interceptors is just as much fun, and it's really not that much different. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Again, if I put $300.00 into an IRA, and if I retire at 65, at a 5% return and adjusted for tax and inflation, I'd come out with just under $1000.00 cash at the end. What a fucking sucker. I mean, seriously, it is the acme of compulsive behavior.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To the end of changing my behavior, last week, I sold off the lion's share of my X-Wing stuff. I sold two base sets and almost all the expansions; I have one base set, one X-Wing expansion, one TIE fighter expansion, one Y-Wing expansion, one TIE interceptor expansion, the Moldy Crow expansion, and I just picked up a TIE bomber and a B-Wing. I did so at a loss, as one might expect. With the money, and with another hundred bucks sprinkled on the fire, I bought Star Trek: Attack Wing, and I mean all of it, including two each of the Dominion ships. Then, with Ebay proceeds from selling other things, I bought the "Dominion War OP Month 1 Participation Prize". That ran me another $30. It makes you wonder just what kind of fucking insanity has riddled my mind that I would do that, knowing that all of these collectible games add very little with each iteration, and knowing that I just did the same damned thing with X-Wing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, maybe you'd be surprised to know that I'm not the kind of guy who needs to be able to "talk about games" with my friends, or the kind of guy that feels some value in being able to talk with others about the merits of any one given game or expansion bit. I don't need to be "in the know", I don't need to be "smarter" than anyone else. I'm just me; plain old, flawed me. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I don't post things much on Fortress: Ameritrash, and I virtually never do anything on BoardGameGeek. So, I'm wondering to myself, "<i>wherein lies the value of these things if they don't indelibly change the game for the better in meaningful ways, but rather simply provide diversity, and incalculably less diversity than just buying several different games</i>"? I don't know, and if I did, I probably wouldn't be having this "coming to Jesus" moment with myself about my predilection toward buying into collectible games balls deep without truly mastering the base game well enough to really need to extend it, if you can call that a need. The fact that I just called it a need indicates the pervasive nature of my addiction. Food, shelter, and water are needs. Buying metric fucktons of plastic for a game isn't a need.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am an undeniable game addict, and as much as I'd like to not be, I am. It's part of me, it's always been a part of me, and that's that. If you go to the <a href="http://www.asam.org/for-the-public/definition-of-addiction" target="_blank">American Society of Addiction Medicine website</a> and look up the definition of addiction, there you have it:</span></div>
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Addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.</blockquote>
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Addiction is characterized by inability to consistently abstain, impairment in behavioral control, craving, diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships, and a dysfunctional emotional response. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death.</blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Granted, I'm not going have any sort of disability or premature death, and the substances are plastic and cardboard, but the fact remains that buying shit you don't need that doesn't add much actual value to a game surely looks, smells, and feels like an addiction. What other possible explanation could there be? Buying lots and lots of expansions for a game, no matter how great that game is, makes no sense. If it doesn't change the experience in a dramatic and undeniable way, it makes no sense except that it's an addiction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know a great many addicts: alcoholics, heroin addicts, meth addicts, pot addicts. They're not hard to find, no matter where you look: Church, work, neighbors, or just on the street, there's addicts of various things everywhere. Maybe we're all programmed that way, or at least programmed to be susceptible to it. I'm here to tell you: people don't buy hits of heroin because they're looking to have a different experience, they're buying it to have the same experience over and over again. They're looking to get the same "high" as they did the first time, which is both hopeless and increasingly more expensive a pursuit. Is this not the EXACT SAME THING? Are we who buy into collectible games not merely reaching for the same experience of awe and joy we had when we first played the game? The experience of learning a game for the first time, exploring it, mastering it? Is it not just taking more chrome onto the game to achieve that same mental "high", giving us more options to master? Really, a</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">re we not all buying these things with the action-reward impulse at its core?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I always find myself showing off the new models I buy to the wife or my daughter, talking in grand terms like, "Wow, can you believe how pretty this thing is" or "The paint on this thing is superb! Those little Chinese wage-slave kids sure can paint, baby". I cannot, in honesty, tell you if I have ever said, "Wow, this ship really changes the game in a substantial way. I mean, this ship will make it an entirely different, better game that without it, it would just not be as good." It's obvious to me, at this point, that it's about new and shiny, not better and different. That's troubling to me, because I've always considered myself to be the kind of person that evaluates purchases with deep skepticism and critical thinking. Honestly, I am, but not in the case of games, and especially not the case when it comes to collectible game expansions. In those cases, I am a blind addict, no more, no less. The sooner I accept it and start looking at what I do from that perspective, the sooner I'll be doing things smarter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Luckily, board game addiction is, generally, relatively benign although I have seen guys I know overwhelmed with their addictions, and it destroyed them. One guy I know had so many models from a specific game that his wife ended up leaving him. He was dragging her to tournaments, essentially forcing her to take part in his addiction, and she had enough of it, packed her shit up, and got out of dodge while the getting was good. What truly scares the shit out of me is that this individual was a <i>professor of Psychology</i>, with a <i>focus on pathological behaviors</i>, at one of the nation's most prestigious universities. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. This could be any of us, if we're not careful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I guess, at the end of the day, I'm not entirely sure that I'm comfortable with this hobby anymore. It not only allows for this kind of behavior, it actively encourages it. Instead of forums being support groups, they're <i>enablers</i>. I see myself buying insipid trinkets in the hope that I can reclaim the feeling that I had when the X-Wing box first arrived on my doorstep, punching and sorting chits with the joy of a kid opening presents on Christmas. Maybe that's the root cause of all of this: being trained by society that opening things is totally fucking awesome. Maybe it's the consumerist culture here in the United States. I'll probably never know, but the whole point of this exercise, and this article, is to tell everyone, or maybe just tell myself, that we need to be on our guard when it comes to game buying in general but more specifically collectible games. Each successive wave generally doesn't provide you with unique experiences, it simply extends the experience that the base game provided, and therefore buying these things isn't buying a new, totally different game, but rather attempts to cling onto the love you have for the base game by showering it with gifts. And worse, maybe we're doing it for its sake, but not for ours.</span></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-7329931707463236892013-10-09T23:46:00.001-07:002013-10-09T23:46:52.324-07:00Star Trek: Attack Wing - "Use The Force, Kirk" ~ Eddie Rickenbacker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've played pretty much every Star Trekity space combat simulator for at least a short while, so at this point, I'm not calling myself an expert by any means, but I am saying I know of which I speak from my own limited perspective, formed through decades of experience. Until this point, I was pretty much convinced that<a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2012/08/acta-star-fleet-boldly-going-where-many.html"> A Call To Arms: Star Fleet</a> (ACTA) would go down in history as the game that made Star Trek games accessible; the game that simplified the genre sufficiently to allow the great unwashed masses the ability to just sit and play. It turns out that I was mostly right: ACTA still holds the trophy regarding making <a href="http://www.starfleetgames.com/">Star Fleet Battles</a> simple enough to play by virtually anyone without removing the things that makes it truly more simulator than game, especially over something like <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/03/x-wing-lock-foils-in-crack-addiction.html">Star Wars X-Wing (X-Wing)</a> or, more closely, <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=cat480005a&aId=2500032&_requestid=1520443">Battlefleet Gothic</a>. That said, <a href="http://wizkidsgames.com/startrek/star-trek-attack-wing/" target="_blank">Star Trek: Attack Wing (Attack Wing)</a> does almost everything right in almost every meaningful way when it comes to simplifying down capital ship combat while keeping it tense enough to be exciting, and deep enough to be more than just another dog-fighting game. In a word, </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://jeffreyatw.com/static/images/picard.jpg">engaging</a>.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It is at this point I want to apologize up front, as I'm going to have to do the inevitable X-Wing vs. Attack Wing comparison because some of you might still think that they're directly competitive product lines of the same scope. These may share a basic system, but they are most assuredly not the same kind of game beyond the obvious. The real comparison should be between Attack Wing and ACTA, because where ACTA is a simpler, abstracted version of Star Fleet Battles, Attack Wing is a more accessible, more abstracted version of ACTA. The fact that Attack Wing just happens to share a lot of basic traits with X-Wing, or Wings of War, is in my opinion irrelevant and incidental at best. If Wings of War is the wise and clever grandfather, and X-Wing is the successful and handsome father, then Attack Wing is the physicist son who exceeded the grandfather in wit and exceeded the father in success, but isn't as handsome as either. That's really a great analogy; so much so that after saying it out loud, I literally was in awe of its sagacity. It really fits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In continuing my comparison, for those who are still skeptical of my assertion, I should mention that while the basic movement and shooting mechanics are very similar to X-Wing, Attack Wing has so much more meat on its bones than X-Wing from a scope, replay, and depth perspective that they really shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath. Dice Tower, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIZjxeaFG14" target="_blank">i</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIZjxeaFG14" target="_blank">n their review video</a>, said something to the tune of "if you know how to play X-Wing, you know how to play Attack Wing", but I think that is simplifying things. It's more precise to say, "if you know X-Wing, learning Attack Wing will be easier as the core movement and shooting rules are more similar than not". </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Attack Wing is a game about objectives and smart tactics, not just about trying to get behind the other guy and ram a proton torpedo up his backside. Where X-Wing is tactical, and slightly strategic, Attack Wing is far more strategic and slightly less tactical. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They have a vastly different scope, although you can just hockey-fight if you really want to, and those who think they are essentially differently themed versions of the same game are not seeing the forest for the trees, with all due respect. I can't slight someone for thinking so, the marketing surely didn't indicate otherwise with any level of skill. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, before I get into the real meat of the review, let me talk about the components for a while to give you an idea of what to expect. Let's begin by saying that the packaging for both the starter and the boosters is virtually indiscernible from X-Wing's. It comes with 3 models, a bunch of cards and bits, some rulers, some wheels, and stands for the ships. Sadly, </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">the models in the game are not nearly as detailed or well painted as X-Wing, whose models are the no-bullshit gold standard for miniature space models, and further, are not even remotely as detailed as the ACTA models, although the ACTA models are sold unassembled and unpainted. I can allow that the sculpture isn't all that detailed, since scale does play a role in that. What </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I can't buy is that the paint can't be as it was with X-Wing. I shit you not, these ships are not in the same league, or even the same sport from the paint booth perspective. I guess it's the dividend of having to pay licensing for the "system" to <a href="http://fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1683" target="_blank">Fantasy Flight Games</a>, a cost that FFG didn't have to pay since it's their novel system <i>(wink, wink).</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battle of the Corian Nebula</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">See, I get that quality costs money, but what inexorably hacks me off is that not only are these models' paint only marginally better than the Star Trek: Tactics, but the models are nearly identical as well. At $15.00 retail, each, you'd think they'd have converted the models a little bit and added a few new details or got a paint scheme that took more than 14 seconds to apply. Maybe hired younger little Chinese factory slaves, the ones with tiny hands, to really get in on the little paint details like ol' FFG must've done. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Sadly, this is not so, and I'm sure that Christian Petersen has got to be laughing all the way to the bank on this deal. Now, this is not to say that the models are ugly, they're just not the pinnacle of this genre as X-Wing models are. If I had to use a single word to describe them, it would be "plain". Well, all but one, and not because it's simply plain, it's because it's embarrassingly terrible. To put it mildly, I was disappointed with the "Kirk" Enterprise, and please, humor me on this point because I have something to say about it, as well as how the game was marketed initially.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on this to zoom in. You gotta see this.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I don't want to belabor the point too much about this wee Enterprise, but it's my blog and I really need to rant about this a little bit. The Attack Wing version of the "Kirk" Enterprise, one of the single most iconic space ships of all time, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">is pathetic and a total fucking disgrace to the license. All of the sell sheets from Wizkids and the initial webstore images made the thing look cool as ice and twice as nice, but when I saw it at the store, I'm not even sure what I can describe my emotions as. As best I can put it, it's like seeing this great looking burger on TV, dripping steamy juices of yum, and then when you order it and unwrap it, it looks like gelled cat shit between two pieces of wonder bread. There was a lot of this web store bait-and-switching done, but the Enterprise is the one that not only fails to live up to the imagery, it really shouldn't even exist in the current form. It's just little, sad, pathetic, and all kinds of fucked up. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Seriously, immediately cut it apart, toss everything but the mounting receptacle into the nearest skip, and then put the saved receptacle into the Heroclix Enterprise-A model after drilling it out. It took me one minute, no bullshit, to convert it, using a scalpel, a drill, and some dollar-store super glue. That minute is counting the walk up 13 stairs to get the glue. Ugh.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Js6noYgFhsS3OLY2JUwm9aQ5HHxXSAUMrhKaZYQERwqdml5ovIsoEc5XxhmsI9nycvACVQbESxeOFP_WOPf_XCf57-PkgjmjAWNYJDZYGPGFQSW9C0cqfW7pO2Z8qrzjBkrGQKGaqPE/s1600/AtWi1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Js6noYgFhsS3OLY2JUwm9aQ5HHxXSAUMrhKaZYQERwqdml5ovIsoEc5XxhmsI9nycvACVQbESxeOFP_WOPf_XCf57-PkgjmjAWNYJDZYGPGFQSW9C0cqfW7pO2Z8qrzjBkrGQKGaqPE/s200/AtWi1.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, my only other complaint about Attack Wing, and this is very subjective, and likely a little bitchy on my part, is that the printing on the cards is very dark, with scant contrast. So much so that it's hard to see some of the art in a room that isn't very brightly lit. Many of the cards also have this queer "interpolated screen" look to them so they look like a old scan-line CRT monitor. I mean, the art appears to be 100% recycled from the various TV series', so it's not like I'm missing out on a Frank Frazetta original or something. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Again, not distracting, but it's something I'd have appreciated a little bit more love being given to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the best things about the game is that the base set and each expansion come with these wonderful little pairs of mission cards that expand the game far more than the ship in the box does. Each is an entirely new scenario, built to play with the ship you just purchased, and after playing several of them I have to say that it's </span><i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">way</i><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> better than just trying to blow the other guys up as is the usual deal with most space games. Like I said, it's not just another dog-fighting game.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">From a product price standpoint, the really great thing about Attack Wing is that </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm sure that I'd never have a desire to buy multiples of all of the ships to feel like I'm getting the most of the experience. What this really means is that you can buy into the game, balls deep, for less than both X-Wing and ACTA, which is a very good thing. Hell, I'm not even sure that you'd need to buy all the ships that come out, although they all do bring something to the table, or at least the ones that have been released at this point. I initially only wanted to get "The Original Series" ships, but after seeing the "Kirk" Enterprise model, I realized immediately that I'd have to reconsider that notion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Anyhow, let's m</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ove on and try to shake off the shame from the sad little Enterprise. So far, I've gotten the base set and all eight expansions released in the launch, including two of each Dominion ship. I initially purchased the base set, which I feel is a month's supply of awesome weekends, and after realizing how good the game is, I went out and purchased all of the expansions. Only after playing the game 5 times did I realize that I'd really like to have more Dominion ships, solely to "fill out" that faction since the other factions all have at least three ships and the Dominion has only two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Again, I don't believe this is the kind of game where having a lot of one kind of ship buys you much, so unlike X-Wing, it shouldn't be a money pit. My biggest concern about the game's long-term costs are that there are many dozens of models available from Wizkids' stable, and Wizkids' policy on reusing models seems to be to beat a horse until it's jellied, so </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">therefore I can envision them putting as many out in as rapid a time as possible. As it sits, wave one and two are already being scheduled for release, so we're talking about buying quite a few models if you want to "keep up" and collect them all. I encourage you to read the cards and see if you really need to have each model before buying, because I can guarantee there will be chaff.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All Your Scan Are Belong To Us</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Back to the game itself, one of the great </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">design ideas in this game is that the ship is just the base with which you build upon, but unlike a game like X-Wing or <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/06/battleship-galaxies-saturn-offensive.html" target="_blank">Battleship Galaxies</a>, there's a little more to it than just tacking on weapons, or occasionally, a pilot. </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To build a ship, you first choose a model and a card that goes with it. For instance, you could choose the USS Enterprise, or you can choose it to be a random Galaxy Class ship, like the SFC Superfly, my personal flagship. Anyhow, i</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">f you choose the named ship over the generic, you get a bonus of some kind, although it costs slightly more in build points. Next, y</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ou must add a Captain, which gives the ship its initiative value, and the captain may have a slot for an elite trait which gives him a special ability. Then after that, you choose crewmen to accompany the stalwart Skipper, which again gives you more options and abilities. Finally, you can load the ship with weapons and technical upgrades. A key point in all of this is that every ship has the ability to field any faction's upgrade, not just those aligned with their faction, but if you use upgrades from a different faction, they cost more in build points. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As noted, a new and recognizable scenario is packed into each expansion, so you will be hard-pressed to run out of "game" anytime soon. They are surprisingly varied, and the beauty of the system is that not only will you want to play each scenario, you'll want to do it with several different fleet builds and from both sides of the scenario. In addition, it's worth mentioning that there are scenarios for more than just two players, and they are amazingly well balanced, from what I can tell from playing four of them. Three player works really well with this game due to the objectives given, which very few games seem to be able to accomplish. Each faction seems to be better at certain things as well, which provides the impetus to want to try things differently for given scenarios. Sometimes you want to play Dominion ships, which are essentially big space battle wagons that fire from a drink straw, and sometimes you want to play the Romulans, who have powerful weapons but are limited in their deployment. It's simply a very well designed system, and you can tell that a lot of thought was put into making each scenario and faction very unique and worth playing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Something that I was concerned with when I read the <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/21451/designer-diary-star-trek-attack-wing-or-how-to-ove">designer diary</a> on <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/">BoardGameGeek.com</a> was that Andrew Parks, the designer, was not a huge Star Trek fan, and due to the porting of the movement and attack system, I wasn't sure that the game was going to feel really "Trekky", so to speak. I am happy to admit that my fears were unwarranted, because the game is quite immersive from the "feel" standpoint. This game exudes capital ship combat, science, exploration, and most importantly, the Star Trek fiction. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They embrace the license, and that's very telling to me that they are engaged with the fan base and want the game to be more about Star Trek than a generic space combat game as it could've been. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The missions are straight out of different Star Trek eras, and best of all, they have an ongoing monthly campaign at local stores that re-enacts the Dominion War. Attendance at these tournaments are most assuredly prize-driven, but I have to admit that I'm drawn to the idea that the company is supporting tournaments with more than just a "Come play so you can blow other people's shit up" background. The one thing I've noticed, though, is that many stores aren't set up on the Wizkids event system, so finding a venue might be tough.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">At the end of the day, this game is better in a lot of ways than X-Wing, but only if you're looking for a more scenario-driven or, really, deeper gaming experience. X-Wing certainly fills a niche and the remarkably detailed ships don't hurt, but it is, at its core, a shoot-em-up, albeit arguably the best ever made. Attack Wing is not a shoot-em-up, and it portrays its theme better than X-Wing did, and in the most meaningful of ways. Alas, the real test for this game isn't as, or should not have been expressed as, a competitor to X-Wing, but rather, as a much less rules-heavy version of Star Fleet Battles or ACTA. I think, to that end, it succeeds amazingly, and the only real complaint I have about the game as a whole is not derived from its design, but rather based upon the quality of the printing and models. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you're looking for a true capital ship combat game that embraces its theme and simulates, but in an abstract and simple way, the mechanics of large ships with complex subsystems engaged in various missions, this is a very, very good choice at a moderate price point. From the play perspective, it isn't as detailed as ACTA, but it isn't as simple as X-Wing, and I think it hits a very sweet spot betwixt simulation and shoot-em-up. It's a very fun game that isn't a brain burner, but isn't for burnouts either. I'm glad I dumped a shitload of money into it, and I will continue to do so, despite my wife's protestations.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why Baron Von Picard and Geordi Bishop Both Approved This Message:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Simple, accessible play paired with depth and scenario-driven play makes this a keeper</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The theme wasn't tacked on like so much cheap costume jewelry; it's integral</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- They've done a great job expanding upon FlightPath's two predecessor games</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- If you always wanted to try Star Fleet Battles, don't; try this instead</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- You don't need to buy multiples of every ship to remain viable in tournament play</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why I Wipe Out Wizkids' Klingons With Quilted Northern Ultra Plush:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Repainting old, mediocre models was not a smart play when they could've been brilliant</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Dark printing and CRT-style scan lines didn't help the production value shine</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Another expensive miniatures game right after X-Wing is a pox upon humanity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The "Kirk Enterprise" model may be the single biggest misstep in IP licensing ever</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Overall:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of all of the Star Trek licensed games, I suspect that I will eventually succumb and call this "my favorite", despite my adoration for the ACTA system. It does everything right in terms of play and does many things right in terms of production value. At $15.00 a pack, they should've come up with the cash to make new, far better models that are in line with the X-Wing models, although they aren't bad, aside from that one I mentioned. The rehashing of old models with subpar paint jobs is the single most disappointing thing about this game, but luckily, the game makes up for it in every meaningful way. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Also, I'd argue that there's room for both X-Wing and Attack Wing, although I'd say that there's not enough room for Attack Wing and ACTA because they are similar in scope and purpose. In that regard, it comes down to the question of whether you prefer longer simulation games or if you want faster, more abstracted games. In the end, this is a truly wonderful offering that I will certainly be found playing often, and one of the very few games in my entire life that I'm considering playing competitively. The only reason this game isn't a 5 Star game, in the opinion of the Circus, is that the ships are just not up to the level of quality that a 5 Star game commands. That said, i</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">f you don't try it, you're missing out.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Rating:</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4.5/5 Stars</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Check out the Wizkids site here:</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://wizkidsgames.com/startrek/star-trek-attack-wing/">http://wizkidsgames.com/startrek/star-trek-attack-wing/</a></i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tournaments, anyone? Seriously, this is bad ass:</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://wizkidsgames.com/dominionwar/">http://wizkidsgames.com/dominionwar/</a></i></span></div>
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=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-56391931710359066972013-10-04T14:12:00.002-07:002013-10-04T14:16:04.397-07:00Zoneplex - Only Don Coscarelli Could Come Up With A Wilder Game<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What the? I don't even....??</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The theme and setting is important to a game's greatness despite what some may have you believe; a theme that isn't completely integrated into a game can remove the shine from a solid game, whereas a great theme tacked onto a terrible game will still find some small semblance of love despite its flaws. Well, <a href="http://www.mysteriangames.com/">Zoneplex</a>, from Mysterian Games, is very different as far as the mechanics and gameplay, but I am here to tell you: this game has the most outlandish, wild, B-movie theme of any game I've ever played. The story behind this game is so astonishingly unconventional and quirky that you can't help but kind of marvel at the oddity of it all. There were definitely some psychoactive substances being consumed when this game was first envisioned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The short version of the story is that the game takes place far into the future, with Earth just a distant memory and an age of human colonization well into its second century. Near a black hole, this giant pyramid called The Zoneplex, like a big ass space ship straight out of Stargate, is just chilling out. The human colonies sent their greatest mystic warrior monks in order to control the incalculable power found in the Zoneplex. Now, it's never actually explained what makes this Zoneplex so powerful, or even what it can do, just that it's bad ass, and you need your space monk to go and gain control of it. Now, I want you to be seated when I tell you this: the players have avatars in the shape of a robed person, and they are referred to as "monkles". Yes, you read that right, it wasn't a typo. When you pair the 70's album cover artwork, the crazy fiction, and the overall "style" of the game, the only thing you will find out of place is the fact that Marc Singer is not anywhere to be found. Hell, it really should have come with a vial of patchouli oil or incense to round out the experience.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL63_eqLxQhvkv0rA96GYIM9BwPVsEDN1OTecLx3wIXG-roe8cLoib72bQ435NgWd4lWfwEhvAzCGCTr1t-IR11A4UzN4ejmVjudWYVupj3fV5raksJvzZYbLjZA6OGpTQJYPIpwktxU/s1600/i5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL63_eqLxQhvkv0rA96GYIM9BwPVsEDN1OTecLx3wIXG-roe8cLoib72bQ435NgWd4lWfwEhvAzCGCTr1t-IR11A4UzN4ejmVjudWYVupj3fV5raksJvzZYbLjZA6OGpTQJYPIpwktxU/s320/i5.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The components for the game are all well-made, and the artwork is as colorful and odd as you'd expect based on the fiction. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have to admit, the little "monkles" really are cool looking, as far as wooden meeple variants go. There is no board, per se, as little triangular tiles make up the board and are placed as the first phase of the game progresses. There's also a neat little tracking board that keeps track of everyone's level, the baddie level, and other things. All in all, the production quality is quite good with the exception of the card backs, which display ridiculously laughable "8-bit retro" style artwork. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The problem is that the art is abstract and vibrant in many places while being incomprehensibly out of place in others; the 8-bit retro look paired with the beautiful art in other places just seems like they ran out of money for the artist or something. That said, f</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">rom a value-of-components perspective, for a relatively unknown game, they did a really great job and I think the game, on balance, looks really nice.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQ6eU_dmWS5LVsasPwpEz_xMml_n7Am4LGy3CatPCvxgoDMKRod8W7WSrso0zZBuzWrKjZP1nNq9a9XNZZOh3NH6K3PEBMQKDzHFUwwFp0lBgLQcoEJOhUTMGRPRl5O9xzujbWiR5njo/s1600/I2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQ6eU_dmWS5LVsasPwpEz_xMml_n7Am4LGy3CatPCvxgoDMKRod8W7WSrso0zZBuzWrKjZP1nNq9a9XNZZOh3NH6K3PEBMQKDzHFUwwFp0lBgLQcoEJOhUTMGRPRl5O9xzujbWiR5njo/s200/I2.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At its heart, it's actually a very clever design in a lot of ways, despite it being an unlikely mash-up of very different mechanics. It's got hand management, area control, tile laying, set collection, secret information that becomes open later in the game, and negotiation in a very Ameritrashy potpourri. You build the pyramid from the ground up by placing tiles, fighting enemies and collecting one of three colors to achieve one of the several victory conditions. Enemies, called "Fears" are drawn blind from a deck, and many enemies are supremely difficult, so in many cases you need to join forces with opponents to win. Just as in games like Dungeon Run or Munchkin, you can promise the spoils of victory or items you have in hand to them in order to lure them into battle. And like Cosmic Encounter, depending on the outcome, the involved players gain, or lose, a static bonus in addition to anything gained via the aforementioned promises to allies. It all works well together, perhaps in spite of itself, and while I don't think this will ever be a favorite game of the group, it was enjoyable in a lot of ways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One thing you kind of have to accept is that it's very random on one hand, since a lot of the things that happen are controlled by a D4, and on the other hand, you can only mitigate that luck to beat the Fears in very limited ways. What this boils down to is that you're going to get your ass kicked a whole lot. The baddies have very high strengths, and your maximum rating is 4, so you're going to have to roll big to beat them, and even if you did roll big, it's never enough. You have to get rid of some stones in order to reduce the baddie's strength, but you do so via a roll, so if you get rid of a stone that you placed in order to roll another die and roll a zero, you feel like a total moron for doing so. It's not frustrating, really, but it does totally suck when that happens. What eases that pain is if another player tosses a stone into the mix, which is how they help you, and they roll a zero, because you cost them a stone and they lose just like you do, so it's a nice way to hose your neighbor. The downside is that getting rid of stones extends the game length, and you can expect a four player game to run about two hours, assuming that you're doing some serious horse trading during the pre-battle parlay.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPS6E9x07FYVQjw8QKoqo3Ae5J3MbfwCdpjV3bg4qCvei47OKludxJBaoi6lsPnXmuJfZCKXF6jQhNbWFhDtLDb1HHMKCUZd4MLG4TFZ0DJ1io1C3YJ3J5KV6azmOiMTKIYiaSJESrf2A/s1600/i3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPS6E9x07FYVQjw8QKoqo3Ae5J3MbfwCdpjV3bg4qCvei47OKludxJBaoi6lsPnXmuJfZCKXF6jQhNbWFhDtLDb1HHMKCUZd4MLG4TFZ0DJ1io1C3YJ3J5KV6azmOiMTKIYiaSJESrf2A/s200/i3.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A smartly designed tracking board!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A really unique aspect of the game is how it breaks up the game flow into two different sections; the first phase has hidden information and is devoted to building the Zoneplex board, and the second is essentially a race to get the three required Fears and be able to enter the "eye" tile with enough "influence" to win. In the first section, players place tiles and move about the cabin, so to speak, and the idea is to place your "sacred stone" markers on tiles that have the symbol that matches your secret symbol, which will give you extra strength during the second phase. This is arguably the weakest part of the game as it's pretty much drawing a card, laying the amount of tiles that the card indicates, and moving that same amount of tiles. It's just not that much fun, although there are a lot of different kinds of tiles that you can place, from teleporters that allow you to move to other teleporters, to "reliquaries" where you can gain relic cards that provide you abilities, to icon-laden "sacred tiles" that give you a bonus if you're standing on one that matches your secret icon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The second phase begins when the board is laid out, and it is more interesting because the game state at the end of the first phase really does impact how this phase goes for you. The secret information is gone at the beginning of this phase, with players revealing their symbols and for the first time revealing what their "influence" level is based on their played cards and how many stones they have laid on which tiles, among other things. At this point, the object is to simply have one of each of the three Fears, which are gained by beating them in battle, and in addition, getting to the "eye" while in possession of the Fears and having the most influence points. Just being in the "eye" provides the player a bonus, but it's a lot harder than one would think to have more influence than everyone else because there is absolutely a "beat up the leader" feel to the game, although there are very limited ways to do this. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPngVTdSjTNC4rSIEAskHCRQdXajp-JSr9l4YIkTyDzRpkAYlQGiXzx9fuvCn7GgwsyYJqiDlHmscnCPnoZdBriNUgSN8mmXZHhlEbuGeJCQrd2JMIJcF_fEFGYL5HJuAVMfuKp2GraA/s1600/I1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPngVTdSjTNC4rSIEAskHCRQdXajp-JSr9l4YIkTyDzRpkAYlQGiXzx9fuvCn7GgwsyYJqiDlHmscnCPnoZdBriNUgSN8mmXZHhlEbuGeJCQrd2JMIJcF_fEFGYL5HJuAVMfuKp2GraA/s320/I1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Klatuu, Verata, Cthulhu...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The main way to mess with opponents is to play cards that steal their relics and to refuse to help them when they're faced with a tough battle. With regard to the latter, it's a very calculated risk you must weigh when going in with another player because you have to remove one or more of your stones to help in battle as I noted, which generally hurts you more than it helps. Sure, you might get offered a card, but is that worth reducing your influence points, and potentially losing anyhow, which results in losing a strength point, which also reduces your influence? Generally, helping others is only useful if you planned on doing so from the first phase onward, and that's because if you put a sacred stone on a sacred tile that doesn't have your symbol, it's a -2 influence penalty, so in helping an opposing player, you can actually remove that stone, which removes the penalty. All in all, there's a lot of factors to think about, and if you didn't thoroughly read the rules before playing, you will find out late in the game that you totally screwed yourself over in the first phase. Now, you can place stones in the second phase too, but the fact that the information becomes open really kind of hoses your ability to be sneaky about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The major complaints fielded about this game were centered on two things that really kind of bothered the players. The first is that you continually need to remember to update your influence status, which is a little fiddly and very crucial. If you forget to update it, or forget about a card you've got, when a player enters the "eye" and their influence bumps up two points, they might win simply because you have poor memory. I, personally, don't feel it's a big deal. Now, what we all agreed upon was that the movement situation kind of sucked. When you draw a card, it tells you how many tiles to move, and this is kind of the Talisman situation where if you need to move one space, but draw a card with two on it, you can't opt to move one space and then stop. It doesn't add anything to the game and it really is just there to lengthen the game, whereas in Talisman, it makes sense to a degree. This just kind of pissed everyone off; where the rule book is unintentionally self-deprecating, the movement is self-defecating. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Other than those two criticisms and some passing laughter about the absurdity of the setting, we all pretty much got along fine with the Zoneplex, and mostly enjoyed our adventures therein. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The long and short of this game is that it is one of the weirder games I've ever played, not only due to the theme and setting, but in the game play. It's actually a little refreshing because it's not the same old stuff, which is saying quite a lot these days, but "different" is clearly not enough to make this game really rock the houseboat. Once you know how to play it well enough to make smart decisions in the first phase, I think the game really kind of becomes better than you'd think it would be the first time you play. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that I liked the game a little more each time I played it rather than the usual, where I like games a little less each time I played. The mix of tile-laying, area control, and negotiation really worked pretty well, and I was kind of in awe, or perhaps better, in disbelief, that they managed to put ideas that don't seem to work that well together into one very solid package. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Now, while I was not unique to the group in enjoying the game more with each play, there were a couple players whose scores steadily declined over several plays while their negative commentary increased. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Now, I found out about this game via the designer emailing me and offering me a demo copy, and after some research, I really kind of had to review it. I don't normally accept review copies anymore, but seriously, the theme was just too wild and the rules just too compelling for me to refuse. This is a GameSalute-produced game, which was Kickstarted, and it is a testament to people who know what they're doing looking a game over. This could've been a total train wreck, but I suspect GameSalute had some input. I reviewed this because p</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">eople should really know about this game, if for no other reason than to understand that games don't have to be about Renaissance-era courtesans, alien invasions, or worst of all, zombies. This review copy will be sent to whomever bugs me about it first, per my site </span><a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-how-we-dooooo-it.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">policy</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">, although if you want it, you're going to have to cover shipping. Star Trek: Attack Wing pretty much guaranteed that I'll have no money in the foreseeable future. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why The Beastmaster, Dar, Is Clearly Cut Out To Be A Warrior Monk:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Zoneplex's theme puts most B-movies to shame with its ingenuity and oddity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- The rule book is really well organized and the game is relatively easy to learn</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- When the art is good, it's very good</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- While the theme is tremendously absurd, it's also really funny</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- One word: Monkles</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why George Romero Will Unleash Zombie Hordes Upon Mysterian Games:</b></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">- The movement mechanics get in the way of the game rather than expand it</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- When the art is bad, it's very bad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- "Contrived" does not begin to describe calling the fighting "facing your Fears"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It lasts about a half an hour too long for what it is</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you like games like Munchkin, Dungeon Run, or Cosmic Encounter because of the alliance mechanic, you might want to check this out, because this really does a good job of taking those games' mechanics and making them its own. I'd argue that it's really the core of the game, along with area control. The upshot is that there were a lot of things we liked, but a few things we didn't, and the things we didn't kind of soured some of us on the whole game. I think there's certainly a place for this game on people's shelves, but the buyer has to really like a very finite set of things in order to really appreciate it. I've never played anything quite like this, and it's a refreshing change from the same old shit that has been churned out, ad nauseam, in the board game world.</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Rating:</b></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;">3.25/5 Stars</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Behold the mighty Zoneplex here, and tremble:</i></div>
<a href="http://mysteriangames.com/" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>Company Website</i></a><br />
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<i style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Despite me telling Shelby, the designer, to put the rules on his site, you have to go to BoardGameGeek.com to read the rules:</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/113070/zoneplex">BGG Game Page (see Files section for rules)</a></i></span></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-20050444834124816862013-09-28T09:19:00.002-07:002013-09-28T09:20:04.086-07:00City Of Remnants - Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Space Gangster<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2E-5B1DMeLNLSkfs14CI7MWTItpHTATkpYYIUft9HWesCvml8SFGP8ppgq8FK_FyPFgvaJtSqwcG0Yd729AilBqHpvYEO3S9D9xxgabn6PlaoqaadvZMuBwi60Jgl-1gxQ6DXua3aiE/s1600/City+of+Remnants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK2E-5B1DMeLNLSkfs14CI7MWTItpHTATkpYYIUft9HWesCvml8SFGP8ppgq8FK_FyPFgvaJtSqwcG0Yd729AilBqHpvYEO3S9D9xxgabn6PlaoqaadvZMuBwi60Jgl-1gxQ6DXua3aiE/s1600/City+of+Remnants.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyone who has been reading the Circus for any length of time will soon realize that there are very few games that I appreciate more than what Ken B., of Fortress: AT fame, coined as "Dudes on a Map" (DoaM) games. There's just something about the idea of having a group of friends playing a game for several hours, using long-term gambits and overarching strategies to take control of the known universe. I have a hard-on for these kinds of games, and one that cannot be squashed, not even by a cold shower or Machinist's hammer. <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/09/risk-legacy-how-i-learned-to-stop.html">Risk Legacy</a>, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/10/ikusa-ronin-roughly-translates-to.html">Ikusa</a>, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/06/conquest-of-nerath-epic-fantasy-warfare.html">Conquest of Nerath</a>, and now, <a href="http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/city-of-remnants">City of Remnants</a> from Plaid Hat Games, are all recent examples of this style of play. And, surprisingly, it is also one of the most underrated and least mentioned DoaM games of all time. Yes, it is that good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game is set in what amounts to a futuristic prison city that was created for the sole purpose of storing the survivors from a malicious alien race's perpetual war of conquest. Like most prisons, this one i</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">s a melting pot where profit-minded individuals banded together to form gangs, kill rivals, steal stuff, and the best part, create giant factories that spew out drugs. Yeah, that's right, it is absolutely a game about drug-dealing space gangsters, which is utterly awesome in every way. It really doesn't get much better than that in this life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">From a mechanical perspective, City of Remnants is a race for victory points, with multiple paths available to achieve that goal. Several factors come into the fold in order to be more effective, one of which is an "influence" mechanic that rewards having a large gang, an effective drug production and distribution network, and simply having a lot of money. The more influence you have, the more effective you can be, and this is abstracted via a points system that represents not only your influence, but the strength of your available actions. Higher influence allows you to move more miniatures about the board per round, which in turn allows you to expand your criminal enterprise more swiftly as well as make your gang army more effective in combat. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The system is so smartly designed that it's a joy to play from virtually every perspective, with everyone's singular complaint being that the game is slightly too long. That said, you can shorten the length by lowering the amount of available victory points, and I'd add one more complaint: there's a rather steep learning curve despite the rule book being well organized and written in an intelligent, intuitive manner. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM615MLU1CFgvNSjKNG8uTD9VCKVbyqmlf95E5ApBLnS2cy1c1V0BAgpx4fFfu0b2uwU9UwqIghiGhoigg1MAMU8ttJsvrR9bIa3TVDXs187jlE7_GK5HtGAp-t6NksLE41FQ29mszjQ/s1600/COR+Models.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJM615MLU1CFgvNSjKNG8uTD9VCKVbyqmlf95E5ApBLnS2cy1c1V0BAgpx4fFfu0b2uwU9UwqIghiGhoigg1MAMU8ttJsvrR9bIa3TVDXs187jlE7_GK5HtGAp-t6NksLE41FQ29mszjQ/s200/COR+Models.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The components in the game are mostly great as well dark, gritty card artwork, which is easily the high point of the overall aesthetic. It's got a ton of beautiful, little miniature models to represent your gang members, and it's got hundreds of wee bits, with mostly good artwork, to track all sorts of things. One of the most impressive parts of the design are the gang tracking sheets, which double as quick rules references; these things are marvelous when it comes to providing all the information in a simple to understand manner. That said, as nice as the art is, there are some questionable design facets from the practicality perspective in some of the little things. On the back of the building tiles that get placed on the board, there are just some icons and a name; the large icon is matched to a card which tells you what the building does. T</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">here's so much space left that it would have been great to ditch the symbol and just write the text of what the building does right onto the building itself. All this said, the game looks outstanding, aside from the board itself, and your eyes will most assuredly be feasting.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-TncoyEEx_UI3pFJtA3sVYbhBRtO9yjF9qweW1KntwEMOO-zdzw5Oo1t-ZSSJ7u6YYrjPorN60aMfDYl-NmwuC07w4yzPmmqwZnoSGwzZFI3RDdYgOkk9tDcZ4wrmr2jok3V8pSQ6iI/s1600/City+of+Remnants+board.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-TncoyEEx_UI3pFJtA3sVYbhBRtO9yjF9qweW1KntwEMOO-zdzw5Oo1t-ZSSJ7u6YYrjPorN60aMfDYl-NmwuC07w4yzPmmqwZnoSGwzZFI3RDdYgOkk9tDcZ4wrmr2jok3V8pSQ6iI/s200/City+of+Remnants+board.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, J</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">erry Hawthorne, designer of </span><a href="http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/mice-and-mystics" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Mice and Mystics</a> <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">and Plaid Hat regular</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, myself, and some of our mutual friends had a conversation at GenCon about what makes a game attractive to buyers, and while I disagreed at the time, after deliberation I think he was right: It's everything. From the cards to the board to the bits, a game needs to be cohesive and have a great style to it in order to be attractive. As it sits, t</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">he art on City of Remnants' board is simply very bland. It's as if someone thought confetti glued to a black background would be a great way to show an image of a city from space, </span><a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02540/Chris-Hadfield-ber_2540064b.jpg" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">despite so many being widely available</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> for examples. I mean, I know what they tried to do, but they simply didn't execute it well. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It's not distracting, but it's just so utterly forgettable and boring, especially in light of the otherwise outstanding art in the game, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">that I think it may be the sole thing holding it back from being talked about more, and more importantly, on everyone's table. It's just so impressive from a game play perspective that you have to overlook the art. I'm even considering creating my own board design and gluing it over the "factory" design. Yes, it's so good that it's worth the time and money involved in pimping it out properly.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJOp5Pur4P2-YCeqVmgDDwrPMqIa5aUgAraryebmci05ZsH7R5kHhWcDvecP_J6FYAMZ7wh0gfvr_rO4kUmUw_6M5EaBpKX4DJSbQ2eHgiFeM-OYaw2LT-6StI1df36vQcOE7lR0u6KA/s1600/COR+Merc+Card.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJOp5Pur4P2-YCeqVmgDDwrPMqIa5aUgAraryebmci05ZsH7R5kHhWcDvecP_J6FYAMZ7wh0gfvr_rO4kUmUw_6M5EaBpKX4DJSbQ2eHgiFeM-OYaw2LT-6StI1df36vQcOE7lR0u6KA/s200/COR+Merc+Card.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the most impressive parts of the game is how everything seamlessly blends together to provide a cohesive experience. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The mercenary cards deserve special notice in this respect because of how they are the centerpiece of the game's design, and they are flawless. First, </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">when you buy a card, you get to put a new miniature into play, increasing your army, and thus the cards are your gang just as much as the miniatures are. But that's just the icing; the meat is that in continuity with the unique faction powers aspect of the game, each card is sort of "themed" to work with one gang, but is useful to all. E</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ach card may be used by any player for its 'power' but that each card has a value of strength in battle for each faction, so that players may choose cards that benefit them in battle, benefit them through power, or if they are matched to your faction, the card helps for both. This means that the cards are a sort of social battleground, where there's several competing reasons to buy a card; you can buy one for the power, for its battle strength, both, or to simply deny an opposing gang the opportunity to gain a card that is very useful to them but not as useful to you. In a word, it's brilliant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Additionally, in a stroke of genius, there is an underlying mechanic of turn management, as it were, but unlike so many other games that have the "UGO-IGO" format, the turns are really rather dynamic in City of Remnants. For instance, during a player's turn </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">turn, they may choose to initiate bidding session on cards, which represents inducting new gang members into your cadre of thugs, and the person who initiates the bidding process chooses which of the four initially available cards is bid upon. Here's the catch, though: </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">if someone else wins the card, sure, they get the card, but they have to pay for it and lose an action for doing so. This allows sneaky bastards like me to </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sap other players of actions, and since there's four available at the beginning of a round, and a new one is always available when they run out, you can literally run other players completely out of actions. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Once a player is out of actions, they get skipped when their turn comes around, so you can start to muscle in on their turf with them powerless to stop you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another really slick thing I'd like to point out is that City of Remnants has truly unique player strengths, but they're not defined by them. E</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">very one of the four gangs excels at certain things, but it's balanced to the point of razor sharpness, which is another example of the tightness of design. What's most impressive is the fact that you aren't required to play to the strengths of your gang in order to win; you can play the ultra-aggressive faction as a "builder" and still win, just as you can play the "money engine" faction as a war-monger and win. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That's incredibly hard to do in a game design that has unique faction powers and yet Isaac Vega and the Plaid Hat team managed to pull it off with style and grace. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally, due to the large volume of cards, pretty much every game will play differently, even if the same play styles or strategies are employed. On top of that, replay value is added in the fact that there are eighteen unique buildings that can be developed in the box, but only nine are available for any given session, so the mix of buildings varies greatly; I've played this game five times now and have yet to see two of the building types come up even once. Each is quite different in what it does and why you'd want to develop it, and the more powerful a building is, the closer to the center of the board it gets placed, meaning that it's going to be under fire for most of the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In short, this game should be on the short list for anyone who likes the "conquest" style of game. It's a microcosm of everything that I love about DoaM games, and although it has a rather generic sci-fi fiction as a base, it is an impressive design that trumps virtually every game of its type that I've played, and in very smart ways. I think that the only flaws in the game are derived solely from the poor aesthetics of the board and the oversight regarding the building text not being on the back of the cards. This is not to say that these flaws are distracting or somehow muddle the game, because that could not be further from the truth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I passed on buying this at GenCon primarily because I spent almost all of my money buying Wreck Age models and Mice and Mystics, and I didn't play this until the last day of my GenCon visit. Had I played it the first time, I'd have forewent buying some the models to pick this up instead. Luckily I was talking about how great it was with Jerry, who was kind enough to pull some strings and get me a review copy, which allowed me to write this article. And thankfully, th</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">is game has elevated itself to be placed on the "Forever" area of my game collection. It's a phenomenal game and everyone I've played it with save one thought it was absolutely amazing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I Love To Be Breaking Bad In Space :</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Tightly integrated mechanics provide an amazing DoaM experience</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- A totally novel theme and setting that is cohesive and ingrained in the mechaincs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Really nice Chad Hoverter sculpts make the miniatures look very "Thug Life"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The artwork is really superb aside from the board</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why This Game Might Be Sentenced To 25 To Life:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Whoever thought confetti looks like a city from space should be cock-punched</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The game runs about an hour too long, although this can be mitigated</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It has a rather generic back story, but it's not relevant to play itself</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This game can be used as a litmus test to determine if you like DoaM-style games, without a doubt. It's actually very easy to play, although it's got a lot going on, and once you've played it once you'll have no problem understanding it. It helps a lot to have the game taught to you by an experienced player, but that said, it's not the mechanics that are hard to understand as much as the interactions of things. All in all, as someone who has spent way too much of my life playing DoaM games, I guarantee that this is among the very top-tier of this style. This game will very likely be one of the last games I ever sell off or trade, because it is simply that much better than virtually all of the other DoaMs that I own or have played. In short, this is Isaac Vega's masterpiece.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>4.75/5 Stars</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Learn more about this game here:</i></span><br />
<a href="http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/city-of-remnants"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.plaidhatgames.com/games/city-of-remnants</span></i></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Want to learn how to play? Check this bad boy out:</i></span><br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP_SjBhlSw0"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP_SjBhlSw0</span></i></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or read the rules here:</span></i><br />
<a href="http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/games/city-of-remnants/corrules.pdf"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.plaidhatgames.com/images/games/city-of-remnants/corrules.pdf</span></i></a><br />
<br />=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-88851037472381793742013-09-23T07:41:00.000-07:002013-09-23T07:56:23.826-07:00Square Shooters - Banality In 54 Simple Steps<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgygVAymGHx40W2kNyfhseQUWyqa6r3KSUO2UuQ8aFz0mmkAzQOxs42WoKdZ_E42W5uMpYfteeLMk7Xcaz0oQxSxKSLM0fP9MlR2Rd15U9O2fXrhfDLFteFJhJx4n4WHWxjJqJy4l2MxT/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgygVAymGHx40W2kNyfhseQUWyqa6r3KSUO2UuQ8aFz0mmkAzQOxs42WoKdZ_E42W5uMpYfteeLMk7Xcaz0oQxSxKSLM0fP9MlR2Rd15U9O2fXrhfDLFteFJhJx4n4WHWxjJqJy4l2MxT/s200/logo.png" width="160" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You may recall me <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-gencon-2013-special-edition.html">doing some reporting on GenCon last month</a>, and one of the pages had an article about how this little old lady who lives on the Mississippi figured out how to put a 54-card poker deck onto dice, while still allowing it to make a wide array of the high hands such as 4-of-a-kind and all manner of straight flushes. On its face, <a href="http://www.squareshooters.com/">Square Shooters</a> contains some pretty impressive stuff right there. Well, as it turns out, there's a reason nobody ever did that before; it doesn't make much sense. Besides the fact that not everyone can play at once unless you buy a pack for all of the players, at $20.00 a pack, the fact that these dice are almost the size of Vegas craps dice means that you're rolling nine huge dice. Unless you're Shaq, it's pretty hard to get them all in your hands at the same time. Plus, if you have a glass table like my neighbor does, every time you hear those dice hit the surface you're praying that they don't shatter the table.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But, let's get this started out right, and I'll explain the game. This is one of the most simple games of all time; you take a card that pictures a poker hand and has some text that tells you how many chips you get for getting that exact hand, and how much you get if you get the same kind of hand, such as a straight, but not the exact hand. You roll three times, Yachtzee style, and if you nail it, you get the chips listed. There's also a couple other kinds of cards in there that let you get chips when other people score, that provide you a free Joker, and that allow you to go head-to-head with someone for the best poker hand. There's rules for other kinds of games, like a weird Rummy analog and some others. But, in short, it's a Yachtzee-style set building dice game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now onto the "analysis" portion of this article, and I want to get this started out right: Seriously, I couldn't stand this game, and I mean, like, white-hot "please can I just go home now" kind of searing, mind-destroying boredom. But, because I love you guys and gals, I played this game maybe 5 times. That feeling never really went away, but I did learn quite a bit about who this game is for, and I even have a variant for the drunken party-girl crowd.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This game does not fit into the "filler" game space, and it doesn't fit into the "main event" game space. It fits into the "put this in your camper and let the kids play it while you sip Genny Cream Ale by the fire. This is most assuredly a game like Uno, Yachtzee, Farkle, Bunco or even Sorry!; it is for people who like games but haven't been introduced into better games yet. It's not a bad game by any standard, although the fact that the dice are over-sized is a real bummer, it's that it's simply a mainstream game made for people who like things simple. I think the fact that it's been ported to iOS probably adds a lot as this game design is really well suited for that kind of play style; if it has asynchronous multi-player then it really would surpass <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cant-stop/id557688143?mt=8">Can't Stop iOS</a> in the "over the 'net press-your-luck game category.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">My kids loved this game, while my wife was a little bit unenthusiastic. That said, my neighbor, who lives to drink and party, really liked it. That said, she was utterly toasted when we played. She came up with the idea that every time you win a card, you get the chips shown, but every time you can't make the hand, you toss a quarter in the pot; the person with the most chips at the end wins the pot. Now, we play gambling games with her all the time, and you really kind of have to have money involved to make her like a game. That said, she was all about playing a second time and when both the wife and I pretty much said we were done, she was quite disappointed. So, there is a market for this game, it's just not primarily the hobby market. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd love to do a much more in-depth review of the game, I really would, but honestly, there's no depth to it. It is essentially Poker crossed with Blackjack, where you have to beat the "dealer" instead of other players, but </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">with less options than Poker, and that can be played by only one person at a time. Oh, and with monstrous dice, to boot. This game is the ultimate game that embodies "Your Mileage May Vary". Tom, the gentleman who gave me this review copy at GenCon, told me that they had sold over 200,000 units, so this may very well be the game that is remembered along with Yachtzee and Farkle as "classic American family gaming"; that may be close to the truth as my five year old and twelve year old liked it quite a lot. Who can say that they've never had a bit of fun playing a bromidic board game with their kids, not because of the game but of playing it with their kids? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why Square Shooters Aims To Please:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- It's definitely a game that kids and drunken neighbors will get a kick out of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- I can see this being a party game for campouts or barbecues</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Everything is very high-quality, from the dice to the chips</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- There's a lot of press-your-luck in this game</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why This Game Is A Busted Flush:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Why the monstrous, heavy dice are required, I'll never understand</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Quarriors is a better example of using dice as cards, at around the same price</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- Monotonous play gets tiring after five or six rounds. Or less</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">While I think this game would appeal to people who have children of a certain age, or perhaps as a replacement for dominoes at barbecue gatherings or something, this game isn't one that I, personally, enjoyed very much. There's just so many better ways to kill 45 minutes, and just using the cards included in the game combined with a regular deck of cards would be a better gaming experience, I think. The long and short is that It's not a bad game, but it's not a really good one either, and it's most assuredly not one that was designed with the hobby game market in mind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1.5/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Learn more about Square Shooters <a href="http://www.squareshooters.com/">here</a>, and download the rules here if you're so inclined:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.squareshooters.com/original-square-shooters-game.html">http://www.squareshooters.com/original-square-shooters-game.html</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDC9NzjfCZ_ur9O-3AdqnV3cNHRZ5gQLKvEmgcNfN_2nTRgBuyZ0Aw_QCL3jALREAlyjClgyfsypiqe-jHQtmMRQOR0b-xvbppqrj5eeKnfqDawSP9xGWbYq447ZjjKRqXDVol46dKV3zs/s1600/SQShootersContest.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDC9NzjfCZ_ur9O-3AdqnV3cNHRZ5gQLKvEmgcNfN_2nTRgBuyZ0Aw_QCL3jALREAlyjClgyfsypiqe-jHQtmMRQOR0b-xvbppqrj5eeKnfqDawSP9xGWbYq447ZjjKRqXDVol46dKV3zs/s200/SQShootersContest.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And if you're a creative sort, check out their contest here:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.squareshooters.com/thatshowiroll/">http://www.squareshooters.com/thatshowiroll/</a></div>
=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-23778275913146335362013-09-02T10:12:00.000-07:002013-09-02T10:12:03.431-07:00Post-Apocalytic Wanderers Need Fast Food Too!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5QFhrrdzxXHjowjP_tAnbT8m5hiLlqcQ3OV3kvdny5VVrc5BTCS0rWhjsvoczC_xGDeEqrzg1EU9k2LyNTG4_G34_mdawQC2uF1hVXnlLOiiLZx7njZQxPClpCtYXbW2dX1FueyMVCeC/s1600/1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx5QFhrrdzxXHjowjP_tAnbT8m5hiLlqcQ3OV3kvdny5VVrc5BTCS0rWhjsvoczC_xGDeEqrzg1EU9k2LyNTG4_G34_mdawQC2uF1hVXnlLOiiLZx7njZQxPClpCtYXbW2dX1FueyMVCeC/s320/1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been spending a disproportionate amount of time creating terrain and painting models to play <a href="http://s1.zetaboards.com/Post_Apoc_Wargames/topic/4759552/1/">Wastelands 3: Total Meltdown</a> as well as my new love, <a href="http://wreck-age.net/">Wreck-Age</a>. I love post-apocalyptic (PA) games quite a bit because the sky's the limit with the time-frame and the circumstances around the "end of civilization". It really makes for interesting games with odd mutations, home-made and futuristic weapons, and myriad adventures that depict desperate raiders laying waste to towns defended by future farmers. I've talked about Wasteland 3 to several people and it is, at this point, my favored campaign-based PA game. Wreck-Age is definitely a better system, but the rules aren't out yet, so I'm still playing Wasteland as it's no slouch.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, I was perusing the <a href="http://wreck-age.net/index.php/forum/index">Wreck-Age forums</a> and found a conversation about "raised bed planters" and how in desperate times, people might carry their produce with them, or simply raise food in mobile gardens in case they need to bug out quickly. A lot of good ideas came out of that thread and I kind of had to see what my mind eruptions could conjure and, subsequently, engineer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, here's what I've been doing over the Labor Day Weekend, aside from partying, going to the local pool, taking my youngest to the playground, and taking my eldest from party to party and sleepover to sleepover. It's worth mentioning that people can get really caught up in these projects, but never forget the most exciting adventure of all: finding ways to occupy your children so that you can have sex with your wife.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, here's the veggie cart:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzPaQg5gPNChiDmOkKnOVtIrss-UfRNmnxOccP-5H6-JiYzPTALV8TV4Bi0AlTCcO43Y0Of87UWXpLqbLgB2l0_0rXZWW1GjfO_HmYspXTps7uZw7rYmz120di5yw1vVX1o0OA9522CBH/s1600/Cart1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzPaQg5gPNChiDmOkKnOVtIrss-UfRNmnxOccP-5H6-JiYzPTALV8TV4Bi0AlTCcO43Y0Of87UWXpLqbLgB2l0_0rXZWW1GjfO_HmYspXTps7uZw7rYmz120di5yw1vVX1o0OA9522CBH/s400/Cart1.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The body of the cart is made from <a href="http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/">Evergreen Scale Models</a> V-groove Corrugated, in 0.030" thickness. This was to exude a corrugated metal look to the walls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.evergreenscalemodels.com/Shapes.htm#I-Beams">I-beam</a> below is also from Evergreen; it's a bitch to cut, even with a sharp knife, but I wanted it to look uneven and rust-eaten, so it actually was OK.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The wheels and axle were "harvested" from a cheap ATV toy I got at the aforementioned indoor playground, which also boasts a small store area for cheap shit to sate your kids' need for new shit. Unsurprisingly, I was the only one who got to buy anything. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally, the hitch was made from two 1/4" balsa sections with a toothpick section thrust in between and square-cut. All of it was secured with cheap CA glue. The animal in the picture is a Wreck-Age Pack Boar, and I had initially planned to create a yoke to attach to it from the hitch, but in the end, I thought it better not to as if the boar was killed, the yoke would just be lying on the table, and probably would be easily damaged. So, it's free-standing.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzV2NyOqmUudWZRoXgRk9piFa1uymqHCIjg6fLBfZMbLJQ6e-mhIEwcmBAh-iyMgIoBp18kZmLeoxrq-_E9C_ISjNXPlWKmd18jpWgdyqvPob0CxPr8tq2OfJ5cNgC9VWRirndO6-yVRL/s1600/Cart2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzV2NyOqmUudWZRoXgRk9piFa1uymqHCIjg6fLBfZMbLJQ6e-mhIEwcmBAh-iyMgIoBp18kZmLeoxrq-_E9C_ISjNXPlWKmd18jpWgdyqvPob0CxPr8tq2OfJ5cNgC9VWRirndO6-yVRL/s400/Cart2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of my concerns was that I'd have to load the wagon with a lot of expensive scenery materials or something, so I opted to raise the height of the bed using Scrabble tiles. I use them in almost every project, somehow, and every time I see a copy at the local <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes">thrift shop</a>, I buy it, because you can use all of the parts for all kinds of things. In a recent group of projects, I used the tiles as a "tile floor" for a ruined <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.533690796686118.1073741827.362465423808657&type=3">command center</a>, and I used the little tile racks as a sign post for my <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.534044046650793.1073741828.362465423808657&type=3">"Mark's Junk" junkyard project</a>. In any event, these things take all sorts of glue very well, and are almost identical in size, which makes them a shoo-in for all kinds of things. I've thought about even cutting grooves in the sides to make a magical tome or book of some sort, and the tiles scale very well for things of that nature.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsaxyw5j3JVGduN7rCWzdP0Prga2OLrAu1tQ5KvmfqSrAfowx4pgvPFfaS3ECG5jcshdt3dWKOWXiMFFzfHpcTOSHEYK8KT7CpTdnIf3iAX-OFBIci3uPcOPmh6GtXdF5tyS2L1AJy3mC/s1600/cart5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsaxyw5j3JVGduN7rCWzdP0Prga2OLrAu1tQ5KvmfqSrAfowx4pgvPFfaS3ECG5jcshdt3dWKOWXiMFFzfHpcTOSHEYK8KT7CpTdnIf3iAX-OFBIci3uPcOPmh6GtXdF5tyS2L1AJy3mC/s400/cart5.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After that was done and it was primed with Armory Grey primer, I had my eldest basecoat the entire thing with Vallejo "Mithril Silver", except for the hitch, which would later be painted with two Vallejo brown colors and washed with </span><a href="http://www.blackhat.co.uk/online_shop/index.php?cPath=21" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Coat D'Arms</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Brown Ink Wash, I truly believe it is the single best brown wash on the market, and all of their washes are superb, although the black needs to be watered down a bit as it is REALLY dark. The rumor is that this is the same paints Citadel used to use, and this company mixed them for Games Workshop until they went "in-house". In any event, the paint is pretty good, but Vallejo is easily better, with the washes being the exception. I have a ton of Cd'A washes, and I use the flesh wash exclusively for all of my models. It's simply brilliant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyhow, back to the cart build. After the basecoat dried, I applied the best stuff in the world for rusting things: <a href="http://www.modelmates.co.uk/">Modelmates Rust Effect Fluid</a>. This stuff should be in every modeler's stable along with some of their mud and oil washes, because it's both easy to use and gives utterly spectacular results, as you can see from the above. The final touch was loading the bucket with my "Superfly's Super Secret Sauce", which isn't secret, but is super:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2 parts <a href="http://memecrunch.com/meme/MRXU/probably-shoulda-washed-this-smells-like-r-kelly-s-sheets/image.png">water</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1 part <a href="http://www.titebond.com/index.aspx">Titebond II PVA wood glue</a></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1 part <a href="http://www.plaidonline.com/mod-podge/brand/home.htm">Mod Podge (satin or matte) PVA glue</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, this mixture is not only watery enough to soak down into substrates, it's incredibly strong and durable. I dropped some <a href="http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/">Woodland Scenics</a> "fine brown ballast" in there for dirt. The beautiful thing about the Secret Sauce is that the material becomes so hard that you can dry brush over it without loosening little bits of debris, thereby avoiding the ruin of your expensive brush.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeGK5pdGg2ZL97ckn_zeXjXM0vL5rpwj6q5B_szWPZMCg0B075hqF44GWNyO3PzL5Z15UQOk4z-VWlT4tCLshLcs75AsIxV8WB2K6jORMBbvR4zrMfNUeI_gfCwck4EmdRtCu9PFftFXk/s1600/Cart+7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSeGK5pdGg2ZL97ckn_zeXjXM0vL5rpwj6q5B_szWPZMCg0B075hqF44GWNyO3PzL5Z15UQOk4z-VWlT4tCLshLcs75AsIxV8WB2K6jORMBbvR4zrMfNUeI_gfCwck4EmdRtCu9PFftFXk/s400/Cart+7.jpeg" width="326" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I added a few more coats of the rust fluid to really make the thing look old and beat up, and then I put a drybrush of Vallejo "Beastly Brown" on the tires. I was pretty satisfied with the final product, so then I went on to finish the model by adding some <a href="http://www.noch.de/en/">Noch</a> static grass as foliage for small plants in the front, and some Woodland Scenics fine green turf as a bed to cover the dirt for the larger produce.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I used <a href="http://www.sculpey.com/products/clays/super-sculpey">Super Sculpey</a>, a cheap and easy to use modeling material, which hardens in the oven at low temperature with no odor, to make the produce. Normally, I use <a href="http://www.milliput.com/">Milliput</a> for this sort of thing but it's sticky, makes a bit of a mess, and is more expensive. In any event, I simply rolled some oblong balls for small turnip-style root vegetables, or perhaps tomatoes, and then I made some larger ones for watermelons. I figure that in the wasteland, you'd want to get as much water as possible captured in the fruit so that you can re-absorb it when you eat it, and I know people who grow them in Las Vegas' searing summers, so it seemed a proper idea.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Painting small things like this is very hard, but I have a method that always works: I roll the balls in a small palette, really more of a drop, of whatever color I want, and then slide them off to the side to dry with a small tweezers. If you don't know who <a href="http://www.excelta.com/">Excelta</a> is, you should check them out. I used to sell them to factories and they're the top of the line, lifetime tweezers and cutter company. Anyhow, I rolled the "turnipmatoes" in red paint and slid them off.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtn_yDcdlFhbrR65Lqvs7qFxZcwCXVYgnGihke-gQMdeqi61eNi-joCrWQPMZjjLG3nMZ12eUUpAClpThw47uaEQcwdyGGBa4zGDWJ32Xk7Exlr_KZ5nT8lRgEnmTPw7efdqwAuUMffsJl/s1600/Cart+6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtn_yDcdlFhbrR65Lqvs7qFxZcwCXVYgnGihke-gQMdeqi61eNi-joCrWQPMZjjLG3nMZ12eUUpAClpThw47uaEQcwdyGGBa4zGDWJ32Xk7Exlr_KZ5nT8lRgEnmTPw7efdqwAuUMffsJl/s400/Cart+6.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The melons were not so bad, but I knew I'd end up painting them and inadvertantly rolling them off of the cart onto the floor, so I opted to simply glue them to some scrap plastic and then paint them. I started with a dark green with the intention of adding lighter stripes, but that was harder than I thought, so I re-painted them in the lighter green after two attempts at the stripes. Happy with the results, I finished them off with a drybrush coat of the original, darker green, and what you see above is the product of that endeavor. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I used some CA glue to affix the melons in place, but I used the Secret Sauce to affix the small red produce as they were so small that using CA glue would probably kill the paint job due to "frosting", a phenomenon that happens when CA glue is allowed to dry without actually bonding one thing to another. In any event, once they were down I used a small paddle tweezers and some more Secret Sauce to add a little more of the Noch static grass, and to add Woodland Scenics "coarse turf", which was comprised of a mix of both the light and dark green variety, to give some depth of color. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As you can see, this thing turned out amazingly well, at least in my opinion, and it's a perfect fit for any PA game setting. I'm thinking it could also work well with a modern or pulp setting as it's designed to look like it was made from harvested materials, something farmers do fairly often due to necessity, especially out in the sticks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!</span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-37427158807163360512013-08-31T09:09:00.002-07:002013-08-31T09:15:56.806-07:00Scoundrels Of Skullport Expansion - Waterdeep's Dark Underbelly Makes Me Want To Pet It<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEmBXlQs43I3UfEKgVBPat9I5jZtNa_dlNwWDjc4ADqqUEu0hBhHtFtdMiBrc7H_TTeFPhOkUrbNAYi733UFAjL8dsAR_5qx_MipoZ_QihaCEExlBevJSe7XHAdZk5N52JzmSHKi3P-jV/s1600/Scounrels+Box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEmBXlQs43I3UfEKgVBPat9I5jZtNa_dlNwWDjc4ADqqUEu0hBhHtFtdMiBrc7H_TTeFPhOkUrbNAYi733UFAjL8dsAR_5qx_MipoZ_QihaCEExlBevJSe7XHAdZk5N52JzmSHKi3P-jV/s320/Scounrels+Box.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For those of you who never played <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2012/03/lords-of-waterdeep-i-wasnt-aware-that.html">Lords of Waterdeep</a>, it's a Euro-style game of intrigue and treachery, with five conflicting factions vying for position as top dog in the city. The thing that stood out, thematically, was that not only was it a Dungeons and Dragons Euro, it was a Dungeons and Dragons Euro that really didn't have any "bad guy" factions. Sure, the good guys did bad things, but it was pretty much about five factions attempting to gain power for the good of the residents, for the most part.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, the first expansion for this game, which was sent to me by Wizards of the Coast without notice and without me requesting it, changes the aforementioned theme of a bunch of good guys trying to make the city a better place for the people. The aptly-named <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/35790000">Scoundrels of Skullport</a> expansion has really bad dudes and non-dudes doing not so nice things and attempting to make the entire city a den of thievery, or at least that's how it feels. This expansion introduces a new mechanic, corruption, as well as really turns up the heat with regard to sticking it to fellow players. The one thing that I want you to go away with, though, is that this expansion <i>changes the game and how it plays</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>in considerable and noteworthy ways.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7OuV43P0JFnGuSy3buRfO65l2FJHB6vz4Vdizfb_Z7rTScrFa1WS2-vc3Q382YmZ2152wL2-D6RVo3MzgM98UZ1IZaA_v4c7NBeo0btDzU-sY3ncsCp-6I08rRuNIQfbT2YLpKlmMEKz/s1600/Scoundrels-Of-Skullport-Box-Contents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7OuV43P0JFnGuSy3buRfO65l2FJHB6vz4Vdizfb_Z7rTScrFa1WS2-vc3Q382YmZ2152wL2-D6RVo3MzgM98UZ1IZaA_v4c7NBeo0btDzU-sY3ncsCp-6I08rRuNIQfbT2YLpKlmMEKz/s200/Scoundrels-Of-Skullport-Box-Contents.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Before I get into the ways it changes it, I want to mention that this is really three expansions in one box, sort of how El Grande Decennial Edition has a bunch of expansions that you can pick and choose. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The first expansion is the Undermountain expansion, which has three new Lords which are quite different from the previous Lords, a new sub-board which essentially expands the amount of places you can go, and as a huge change, it has 40-point missions for each type of mission, which, if you can pull them off, are game-changers. The beauty of this expansion is that it's not really adding mechanics as much as simply opening up the board. The one thing that it does change, and in a big way, is the resource allocations; this expansion's buildings provide you a lot of resources, so much, in fact, that they now have "5 resource" chits because in the mid-game, you'll pretty much be loading your tavern with gold and dudes wholesale. This is augmented by the fact that most of these new spaces don't just give you stuff, they force you to add stuff to the board so that when other players take a space, they get the stuff you left there in addition to the stuff they normally get.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Now, do you remember how I said (like 20 seconds ago) that this expansion changes the game? The way that it changes the game is that, like El Grande or Puerto Rico, the base game has a sort of cramped board, where you always seem to have the space you wanted taken by a previous player, and that you never seemed to have enough resources to go around? By opening up the board like this, there are a lot less blocking moves that you can take, and because resources come so fast and furiously, you will spend a lot of time in the Undermountain and you will not be impeded in your quest for resources as you were in just the base game. In other words, it allows you to pretty much do what you want to do, when you want to do it, to a larger degree. It takes the game from a positional battle to get what you need quickly to a veritable smorgasbord of stuff, and buildings generally get to the table a lot faster than they did in the previous game. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZZy_UIk9cCtABD_s30vr9XVgL73LCVbG8I9HnIFLX3QbLoML7bhVmSj2jH7xBrOTuCTCTQ1J0nTZf59P75zgag69U5ZvBzeuuSLkL_7lLapPWHVx3XT5nkBA2mmNjBQi9B48wk-42yQr/s1600/excerpt_skullport_intrigue1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOZZy_UIk9cCtABD_s30vr9XVgL73LCVbG8I9HnIFLX3QbLoML7bhVmSj2jH7xBrOTuCTCTQ1J0nTZf59P75zgag69U5ZvBzeuuSLkL_7lLapPWHVx3XT5nkBA2mmNjBQi9B48wk-42yQr/s200/excerpt_skullport_intrigue1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The second expansion is a real game-changer, though, because it adds an entirely new mechanic, that of corruption. Many of the new cards and buildings in this expansion are tuned to give you something good, but also corrupt you, which is abstracted these little blue skull meeples, and these little blue devils cost you negative points if you have them in your tavern. The truly clever bit about this new mechanic, the one I think is astoundingly smart and well-conceived, is that the amount of points that each costs you slides on a scale based on how much corruption <i>all</i> players have. There's a little side board that holds the tokens on spaces marked with a negative value, and as more corruption is taken, it uncovers the next highest value, meaning that the more corrupt all "city officials" are, the more damaging these tokens are to everyone. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDw1MAbq5C790F1QUVcFRX3XhL_LXEcI-4fq9HA6YIKZX-r6vXuvpbY6emOvbKEDlo1_HQBCWSvDAbtRV-09YQHKfN4HFulg_7kDrXE9rzDKKjPksqpVgeqMxTyQBzKJl89Aiho7U-if9F/s1600/excerpt_skullport_building1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDw1MAbq5C790F1QUVcFRX3XhL_LXEcI-4fq9HA6YIKZX-r6vXuvpbY6emOvbKEDlo1_HQBCWSvDAbtRV-09YQHKfN4HFulg_7kDrXE9rzDKKjPksqpVgeqMxTyQBzKJl89Aiho7U-if9F/s200/excerpt_skullport_building1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The buildings are far more dark in theme than the old buildings, with such a slave market, a prison, a monster hatchery, and a necromancy supply store, although that is pretty much only elicited in flavor text. The effects provided at these new buildings almost all revolve around corruption, with some returning tokens to the pool from your tavern and others adding them. The overarching strategies around corruption are such that if you have only a few tokens and other players have many, by taking the last token from a space on the corruption track, you make them more damaging, thereby hurting yourself a little but hurting them a lot, a net gain for you. Furthermore, some new Lords get bonus points for each corruption marker they possess, so by increasing the negative value for the markers, you essentially can negate their bonus, if you infer that they, in fact, possess that Lord. All in all, it adds another layer of depth to the game, and it's a welcome, and backstabbity, change.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The third expansion is pretty much an expansion in-a-card, the sixth player. So, now you can expand this game to include a new faction, The Grey Hands, and as noted, these new Lords are quite different than the previous ones in that they may get bonus points for being corrupt. As an added bonus, you get to play as a skeevy looking beholder, if that rustles your jimmies. You can only play with six players if you add one of the side board expansions, which makes sense as the base game is already crowded enough and with six players it would become nonviable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As a final note relating to how to implement these expansions, you may put one expansion or both expansions into play, especially when six players are in the mix, and there is a new optional rule for longer games, which revolves around the number of agents that each player has to begin with. The expansion has one extra agent meeple per player in the set, so that if you play a two player game with all the bells and whistles, you start with five agents. When playing with both expansions at once, though, there are some setup changes that you need to take into account, and luckily, each new card is marked with an Underdark or Skullport symbol so that when you put the game away, you can more easily sort the cards into their respective pools.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the final analysis, this is a welcome expansion in that it isn't the typical expansion that has become prevalent in the hobby game world; the kind that just pile more of the same on top of a base game or that fix flaws in a broken base game. These expansions add depth to the game, change the conditions of the game, and with the new cards, add new, interesting, and in some cases, infinitely harder quests. This expansion retails for $40.00 but can be had from online retailers for $27.00, and I think that if you're a fan of the base game, this is a really cheap way to truly expand and alter the way the game plays. I'm not sure that if I was a person who primarily plays two-player games that I would recommend this, because it spreads things out so much, but if you play three through five player games, or want to be able to table this with six, it's a must-have expansion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As per <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-how-we-dooooo-it.html">Circus policy</a>, I gave the base game away after review, since it was sent for review by Wizards, and so in order to play this, I had to buy the base game again, which I did immediately after I sent the subscriber my review copy. Just as last time, I'll be giving this expansion away as well, and I will most assuredly be buying this in the short term, because as much as I enjoy the base game, this adds so much new and different content that the base game, after playing it as many times as I have, will seem to be a little less shiny. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Scoundrel? Scoundrel...I Like The Sound Of That:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- So many new ways to play, and a sixth player option</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- The corruption mechanic adds so much to this game that it's a must-have</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The darker tone gives the game a little better theme, considering it's a game of politics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Why This Is A Scruffy Looking Nerf Herder:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- This takes up a lot more table space, especially with both expansions in play</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- New card backs don't match the original, so you have an idea of what's up next</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- It takes a little angst away from gameplay due to more resources being available</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">- The "block you, sucka" aspect is gone, with so many new spaces available</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is a must-have expansion for Lords of Waterdeep unless you're only playing two player games, and even then, you'll probably enjoy it. Wizards didn't just add more of the same, they changed quite a bit of the game, and in really smart ways, and in such a way that you can play one of four ways, which will assuredly add replay value. All in all, for under thirty dollars, it's a hell of a value proposition for fans of the original. All of us really enjoyed the new options, and we all agreed that each mini-expansion adds something new to the base game, although the corruption aspects of the Skullport mini-expansion is the star of the show.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rating:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.5/5 Stars</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Learn more at the Scoundrels home page:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/35790000">http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/35790000</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>And if you never played the original, which means you're missing out, check out my review here:</i></span><br />
<a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2012/03/lords-of-waterdeep-i-wasnt-aware-that.html"><i>http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2012/03/lords-of-waterdeep-i-wasnt-aware-that.html</i></a><br />
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=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-34864839373504089982013-08-30T08:24:00.000-07:002013-08-30T08:24:23.852-07:00Circus Train - VPG's Gold Banner Game Gave Us Wood For Lions And Tigers, Oh My!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8364STL9PY-nfbxy0MNuzOIXufYgHwPzsV6TCGmZOvEDHVzY1ufVzifN5HHg2bLO7nStBhSLsCWkx2qKJmK2qyXHPjuXdVc7t5VsJmrvmMdbM4gOcVOIfN2an_o6Dgl84GFlbDIts7RAY/s1600/CircusTrainBox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8364STL9PY-nfbxy0MNuzOIXufYgHwPzsV6TCGmZOvEDHVzY1ufVzifN5HHg2bLO7nStBhSLsCWkx2qKJmK2qyXHPjuXdVc7t5VsJmrvmMdbM4gOcVOIfN2an_o6Dgl84GFlbDIts7RAY/s200/CircusTrainBox.jpg" width="149" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Only the oldest members and readers of Superfly Circus reviews would remember the <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/04/toe-to-toe-nuklr-combat-with-rooskies.html">vicious beating</a> that <a href="http://victorypointgames.com/">Victory Point Games</a> (VPG), publisher of <a href="http://victorypointgames.com/details.php?prodId=109">Circus Train</a> 2nd Edition, experienced at the hands of myself some time ago. I was lambasted by some of the folks at VPG as well as other sites, for such a vile review. Well, I stand firmly behind that review because it was easily one of the most truly terrible games I've ever played. I'm still reeling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That said, in that same article I spoke about some of the really fun and clever games that VPG has produced, such as <a href="http://victorypointgames.com/details.php?prodId=94">Nemo's War</a>, although the production value was only marginally better than the game I reviewed. You see, while I am a "toy guy" who likes little metal miniatures and plastic bits, the fact is that I am well-equipped to identify what a good game is despite poor game pieces. Production value is not <i>everything</i> in a game; the purpose of everything in the box is to immerse you in the game, to draw you in, and to enhance the user experience. A game doesn't have to have the amazing art or bits of <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/10/cyclades-create-your-own-iliad-in-two.html">Cyclades</a> in order to make the game enjoyable, but it sure as hell doesn't hurt it, either, if it's done right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why am I telling you this? Allow me to explain: Victory Point Games got themselves a laser, and they now produce what they call their "<a href="http://victorypointgames.com/results.php?category=29">Gold Banner</a>" line, which has laser-cut wood counters, and in addition to a paper game board, they include a laser-cut wood game board. Compared to other publishers who use cardboard counters and a fiberboard-mounted game board, these games are absolutely the pinnacle of quality, aside from one major flaw; the game board sections don't always line up. From a play standpoint, it really doesn't make very much difference at all, but from the aesthetic one, it's something that might piss you off a little. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Circus Train is a mature title, originally released in 2010, and has recently been upgraded to the Gold Banner standard, which sells for a premium price of $55.00, and in my opinion, is worth almost every penny. It comes in a nice box instead of the old polyester zip-lock bag that most of their games come in, and it has really, truly well done artwork throughout the production. I got this game second-hand in a trade, and I have heard first-hand that during the removal of bits, the game leaves a powdery ash over the whole affair from the laser cutting process. To me, that's not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it so you know what to expect. All in all, this is a top-notch production, and I think that it easily commands the price they're asking due to the immense quality that is built into the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As I said, a game isn't only components, and the underlying design is where the true quality lies. The reason all of us at the Superfly Circus thought this was a great product is that aside from the quality inherent in the components, the game itself is truly wonderful to play. I'm not really all that partial to the circus, aside from MY circus, the game really gives you the feeling that you're running a circus, which we all thought was pretty damned cool. In a lot of ways it's a very traditional design, but it also has a lot of modern Euro built into it, which adds quite a bit of strategic options for players. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCs9Rxu88K5Xa8HhzouEbougQxEUd-oKm5hhthj_7kauM8JGTHZhbi1ttYX9rlDxCAK6IGlZbsbhyphenhyphenvwtxi_ymDwOtcHBml2eoAVlr8DEJ2mP4JSoVlZegAL0mwoWrgl0an9VemzKyuPD2E/s1600/Circards.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCs9Rxu88K5Xa8HhzouEbougQxEUd-oKm5hhthj_7kauM8JGTHZhbi1ttYX9rlDxCAK6IGlZbsbhyphenhyphenvwtxi_ymDwOtcHBml2eoAVlr8DEJ2mP4JSoVlZegAL0mwoWrgl0an9VemzKyuPD2E/s320/Circards.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game itself is really a sort of pick-up-and-deliver design, with players moving their circus trains all over the map, which represents major US and Canadian cities, in order to please the crowds with their fabulous acts. A core concept in the game is that you have to manage the acts you have on hand and weigh them against the demand for acts, as indicated on "demand markers" which are placed on the board. Too many acts, and you can go bankrupt, forcing you to sack the acts that you paid dearly to acquire; too few, and you limit your ability to score points. Your actions are also limited by a player deck, which contains cards that allow movement, performances, and even more interestingly, the ability to snatch acts away from other players. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game isn't scored in a traditional way, either, because points are scored based not on only how many points you've accrued during the game through various means, but on the score of the best single performance you've made. Another facet of the game for players to manage is that money is quite important in the game. Initially, each performance renders five dollars, but as the game progresses the performances scale in value up to ten and twenty dollars, allowing you to buy more acts, and more importantly, pay for them when you choose to play, or are forced to play, the "pay up sucker" card. As I noted before, if you run out of money, you have to sack performers, which absolutely kills your ability to raise your "best performance" level, a key aspect to winning the game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not unlike another Euro design, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2010/03/el-grande-conquer-spain-and-overthrow.html">El Grande</a>, you score points at pre-set timing along the "calendar", which acts as the game timer. During this scoring period, the person with the highest maximum performance rating scores the most points, and then players with the most of a type of performer, from acrobats and clowns to cannonballers, scores points. We all really enjoyed the complexity in scoring as it provided several paths to victory, and more importantly, provided impetus to stealing other players' performers at the most opportune time. It's quite impressive that the game isn't weighed down with player-versus-player backstabbing, but instead is augmented by it, which is a hard balance to achieve. Beyond that, at the beginning of each "month" of the game has an "event card" which is put into play until the end of the month, which affects a wide variety of things, such as not allowing one type of performer to score.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also included in the game are special characters, which sometimes randomly pop up on the board and provide the person who acquires them some more options, such as allowing further movement than normal, or giving players extra performance value when performing at a "demand marker". There's even solitaire rules included, which is a hallmark of VPG, and while I only played it solitaire once as I don't really like solo games, it was fun and easy to learn. I'd argue that it was more of an afterthought, or perhaps a hold-over from the first edition which was far more geared toward solo play, since the game has so many features that are designed with multi-player games in mind. At the end of the day, this game has a lot of different ways to play, with basic, advanced, solo, and optional rules that are all well written and easy to understand.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOclF1boCD6VGfhNJCCb-8BcwROWk2a3JDVOPwB7z_vwH_dSigSsCxD1cn_gqO9bn98N2qvWdDUu13ckFyPFVVQlBM6070PEbl9zN4gKwMzIRsRA1YgOEOnzXeevW-c9DiXajSPs2r6yo/s1600/Board+From+Circustrain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOclF1boCD6VGfhNJCCb-8BcwROWk2a3JDVOPwB7z_vwH_dSigSsCxD1cn_gqO9bn98N2qvWdDUu13ckFyPFVVQlBM6070PEbl9zN4gKwMzIRsRA1YgOEOnzXeevW-c9DiXajSPs2r6yo/s320/Board+From+Circustrain.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The red circles are added to show where the problems lie.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">With all of that praise in mind, my one complaint about the "product", as alluded to above, is that the art on my board is misaligned fairly badly, although the puzzle-piece design is very good and precisely what I would've wanted Z-Man Games to do with their amazing </span><a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/10/ascending-empires-proving-that.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Ascending Empires</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. The pieces interlock seamlessly and flawlessly, but the art is skewed such that some of the cities' names have letters missing, and some of the railroad tracks don't quite line up. Again, it's a minor annoyance, but what is a major annoyance is that inside of the box is a <i>mea culpa</i> sheet that tells purchasers that the game is likely to have misaligned artwork, and to "please accept the game as-is". As someone who shelled out $60.00 (or equivalent in trade) for a game, if there's something wrong with it, one should expect to be able to contact the publisher and remedy it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As such, I wanted to see what they had to say about it, so I contacted VPG with an image of my board, asking for a replacement board since the art was so badly misaligned. Their response was as follows, after almost two weeks had passed:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Hi Pete, </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about the
misalignment. Due to the size of this map, it is cut in separate parts, and
this is the result. I could send you a replacement in hopes that it will be
better than the one you currently have, but most likely it will be the same.
Would you like me to send it anyway?</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Thanks, </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Stephanie Marroquin</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>VPG Shipping Manager</i></div>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not so much upset about the response as the time it took them to get back to me; in the age of the Internet, one would think that a company, even one as small as VPG, that produces such good games would have someone to answer more rapidly, but alas, it doesn't appear that this is the case. Even that didn't bug me, though, all that much. What I'm really bothered by, if anything, is that they are claiming that the boards are pretty much always going to have printing errors. What I extrapolate from that is that </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">they don't know how to adjust the art for the laser cut width due to inexperience with their laser.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As a former CAD designer who spent four years working with lasers, I can understand the complexities, but in light of the fact that I did the design work for many of the products that company made, and with little training, it seems that they need to get with the laser or software company and discuss the issue rather than just throw up their hands in frustration and accept that they'll be making mistakes on every game they produce. That's just plain lazy, and it does a disservice to their customers. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To add insult to injury, you can do a simple Google search and can find photos of boards that are NOT nearly as misaligned:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.espacejeux.tv/?p=7094"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ESpaceJeux.TV Circus Train (OLGS)</span></i></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/07/19/you-must-not-allow-a-clown-gap-in-circus-train/">Quarter To Three Circus Train Review</a></span></i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.angryimpgames.co.uk/circus-train-second-edition-882-p.asp"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Angry Imp Games (OLGS)</span></a></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What I'm seeing isn't poor quality, per se, as much as inconsistency. Now, I know I've belabored the point perhaps more than I should have, but it's my duty to you, my readers, and potential buyers of this otherwise outstanding game, the things that you need to know to make a purchase decision. There is no spite, only the facts as I have illustrated them to you. The final "dot on the I", so to speak, is that I want to reiterate as strongly as possible that the errors do not affect play, or at least didn't affect us, and that this game is truly outstanding from a design and "fun" standpoint. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The long and short is that Circus Train is a very accessible, easy to learn, and very fun game that we have truly enjoyed playing. Aside from the board problem, which can be easily mitigated as the game also includes a folding paper game board, this game's components are amazing, and easily stand up to much larger publishers. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to pretty much everyone, but especially if you're a fan of medium-complexity Euro style games. My Circus friends loved it, my 12-year old loved it, and my "mostly non-gamer" wife loved it. If that's not enough of a glowing endorsement, I cannot envision what is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Why I Have Become A Fan Of Trains In General, And Most Especially Circus Trains:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Simple, easy to learn, rules make this a great game for anyone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Fast turns keep downtime to nearly zero, even in a 4 player game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The art is nice, and evocative of the days of carnies impregnating your daughters and whatnot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The optional rules REALLY add a lot of depth to the game, especially the named characters</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Why Circus Train Is Not As Awesome As The Superfly Circus:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Epic fail on the board alignment and subsequent customer service</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The game might have a little too much "random" for your taste, but there's not much</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Silly child, NOTHING is as awesome as the Superfly Circus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Overall:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Despite the lack of alignment on the game board, despite their slow customer service, and despite their unfathomable inability to produce a board that doesn't have glaring errors, this game is outstanding. Everyone who played it either liked it or loved it, and what really intrigued me, and still does, is that there are so many viable strategies to win, especially for a game that is so streamlined and simple. No game has played out the same over the span of our testing, and above and beyond that, you always feel that if you had JUST ONE MORE TURN you might be able to pull out a win. That's a sure sign of a competent, entertaining design. For me, it's a total autobuy, and I think this might even make it onto the Forever Euro shelf next to El Grande and Lords of Waterdeep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rating:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.25/5 Stars</span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Check out the rules here:</span><br />
<a href="http://victorypointgames.com/documents/CT_2nded_Rules_v1-0%20(Website).pdf">http://victorypointgames.com/documents/CT_2nded_Rules_v1-0%20(Website).pdf</a>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-25331408863229802372013-08-21T19:19:00.000-07:002013-08-21T19:25:30.627-07:00The GenCon 2013 Special Edition Magazine HAS ARRIVED<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHrt6DVIReUqvSW4E88DXDxGMKTo5Y8pZDrEhBpSYasE2tClgPbckH5F4lb7_0jXqAWAaCT80PLOJFFiI4U26sB0yF66x5bE9ihq849mEIoxUfA4r4sjLPd_wYRR6jw8dAxiKMnAWFqxe/s1600/IMG_2250.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHrt6DVIReUqvSW4E88DXDxGMKTo5Y8pZDrEhBpSYasE2tClgPbckH5F4lb7_0jXqAWAaCT80PLOJFFiI4U26sB0yF66x5bE9ihq849mEIoxUfA4r4sjLPd_wYRR6jw8dAxiKMnAWFqxe/s320/IMG_2250.JPG" width="145" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Folks, I've been working long hours to get this magazine written up for your enjoyment, and this 32 page extravaganza of game reporting is nothing short of a labor of love. I think it's the best work I've done in a long time, and I'm really quite proud of it. I only hope you enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It took a lot of time out of my gaming to do several hundred interviews with players, GMs, event people, and booth folks, but you're worth it. I tried to get the big name stuff as well as some of the smaller stuff, and I also wanted to include a little bit of everything, from RPG to Euro to Ameritrash to Miniatures, and I really had to cut down from the 900+ photos I took in order to create a snapshot of what the con was about this year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's a 65MB download, but it's worth every byte. Hell, every bit. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here's the link:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="https://app.box.com/s/5lo2k52y6vque8sl9qm6">Link: Superfly Circus 2013 SE Magazine Download</a></span></b></div>
<embed src="https://app.box.com/embed/0cxz5w9u8jydcy8.swf" width="466" height="400" wmode="opaque" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always">=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-79122812261518527872013-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:002013-08-12T10:53:51.091-07:00I Just Can't Understand Why Consumption Is Superior To Enjoyment With Gamers<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm probably beating the last vestiges of flesh from a dead horse at this point, but I'm going to anyhow because as much as I write about it, I still don't understand it, and it's never been adequately explained: Why is it so important to so many gamers to acquire games rather than play the living shit out of what they have? Really, the question boils down to, "Why do so many gamers have no sense of value anymore?" It vexes me, and as I read about people's huge lists of shit they're planning to buy at the next big convention, I shake my head and wonder why.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It seems to me that the culture of Kickstarter is an extension of many people's good will; people are ultimately pretty generous and want to help a brother out when they can. I view Kickstarter as giving a guy money who may or may not give you something in return, and what you get in return may be quite dissimilar to what they initially thought they were going to get. That's just part of Kickstarter, which is fine as long as people remember the phrase, "<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forkingpath/the-doom-that-came-to-atlantic-city/posts">caveat emptor</a>", before they click "pledge". But it's not so much the pledging or buying something sight unseen that vexes me, it's the fact that these games are generally very expensive, even in the board game world, and that so many people are serial backers who do not appear to be serial players. Why buy 50 games a year, every year, when it's incredibly unlikely that you'll play each of those games more than four or five times in the span of two or three years, especially if you're buying and trading for the same amount of games every year?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I understand that people buy for the "experience", sort of like paying $10.00 each to go to the movies when you can pay $4.99 on Amazon Streaming a year later to see it in your home. It even makes some sense in that frame when you consider that a game played four times by two players that cost $100.00 on Kickstarter comes out to $12.50 a play, which is equivalent, more or less. The rub is that there are very few truly great games that come out every year, so it would be like going to see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_(film)">Ishtar</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth_(film)">Battlefield Earth</a> 3 out of 4 weekends, and only occasionally seeing a movie of the quality of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan">Saving Private Ryan</a> once in a great while. It just doesn't compute for me. Why not simply save all that money and buy the best of the best games, playing them repeatedly?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Consider also that if you buy a bunch of mediocre games, the "new game smell" wears off much faster than a game that is good, or great, because you simply don't want to take the time to play them and get really good at them, or really understand them, since they're just not good enough to command that sort of time investment. I'm sure this falls back into the "experience" philosophy, where just playing a game a couple times is sufficient to get the full experience. I'm sure there's also a social aspect to this phenomenon, as playing lots of games just enough to get the gist allows you to get onto your favorite forum and talk about your experience or answer questions, which gives one the sense of being "in the know", or a feeling of superiority in being experienced with a wide variety of games.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think the largest reason I feel that the serial buying of mediocre games that you'll never play much bothers me is that I'm not of the mind that I want to just experience games. I've never played Princes of Florence, or Le Havre, or a host of other games, and I'm not entirely sure it makes me a worse person for never having played them. I don't feel the need to be able to interject in every single forum thread or at every game meetup. If it's a game I've never played, I'd rather listen to the conversation than actively participate. I just don't feel like I need to be superior, or some sort of fucking game aficionado, able to speak on every game ever made and offer up several games similar to that game with different themes or whatever. It just doesn't make sense to me that having that ability is worth spending several thousand dollars or more annually.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The real problem with buying all of these mediocre games "for the experience" is that sales are the only way producers can measure quality, or rather, the market's response to any given product. For every mediocre, or just plain shitty, game that gets purchased, it sends a signal to producers that there is a demand for that kind of product. Kickstarter, for instance, has become a great way for idea guys to get out from under the oppressive thumb of editors and quality control folks, which has an advantage in that a wider variety of products enter the market, but has the disadvantage of not having anyone but some guy with an idea produce a game that may or be complete, utter shit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For instance, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/08/gunship-first-strike-ill-blow-you-up.html?utm_source=BP_recent">Gunship! First Strike</a> is a very neat game, but had they had someone with some practical experience looking at the game, perhaps it wouldn't need to be a $50.00 game that was designed, apparently, for people with poor vision due to huge boards and cards. Also, it might have had a professional editor overlooking the rule book and it could have been far less difficult to learn. It's abundantly clear to me that very little blind play testing was done on that particular game, something that is an industry standard, and done by every traditional game publisher on the planet. It's these problems that are creeping into games of late, and I think it's due to the fact that people are buying "ideas" instead of "products", and not just using Kickstarter, but whenever they are buying games. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some people buy games based on theme alone, which I fully understand, but the problem is that the industry's sales and marketing is done almost exclusively by "serial reviewers" and bloggers (like myself), and almost all reviewers that I've ever seen <a href="http://www.boardgameswithscott.com/?page_id=5">do not do many negative reviews</a> for a host of reasons, some very valid in my opinion, and <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/article/12651341#12651341">some not so valid</a>. To write a negative review, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/04/toe-to-toe-nuklr-combat-with-rooskies.html">you have to play the game enough to understand it</a> on a fundamental level, and further, to form a strong opinion that will carry the review. This is a time and frustration investment, and most negative reviews I've seen (including every one of my own) were met with such venom and vitriol that it's even more of a reason to simply not review a game than to deal with the zealots. I've set up a policy here that if I receive a game, it WILL be reviewed in order to keep myself honest, but I am in the very small minority in this respect. Several reviewers I've spoken to indicated that they do not do any negative reviews because of the time involved. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What this means is that all the games you buy are almost always tilted in favor of a "buy" recommendation because the publishers aren't going to link to a scathing review if one even exists, and most reviewers won't even produce an article if they play a game once and hate it. Pair that with the predisposition of gamers to buy games that they're interested in based on either mechanics or theme alone, and you have a swirling vortex of a consumption culture. As noted, at the center of this vortex is the publishing world, where all of these "idea guys" are being told by the market that "those kinds of games sell reasonably well", which entices them to create more games that use some of the mechanics or themes in these mediocre but oft-purchased games, continuing the death spiral.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the end, I think that we all have to do our part in order to keep the industry honest, by not buying things sight unseen, not buying games just to buy them irrespective of quality, and really, just being good stewards of our money and not rewarding mediocrity. If we all do that, publishers will produce less games, potentially, and more importantly, they will produce better games. "No more Munchkin and Atlanteon, lots more Space Hulk and Agricola" should be our battle cry, and we should resist the temptation to buy everything we see. If we don't keep the industry honest, who will?</span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-47226211044147468712013-08-11T08:58:00.002-07:002013-08-11T08:58:34.961-07:00How To Remove "Frost" From Models Sprayed With Matte Finish In Humid Conditions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEJNQ4AM9SDiUGIRF3NallDDn_nDFjHm8aR7vICiuzZ-guHXS6eluMpevdx28lujow2SrdkmlVjHXOwfAsq3f0BOyQGqh758bgiVWXN3_FF1fPtlsxsPZdNLbHrrRenEYpw2-jZU5b9Xy/s1600/Matt+Sealer+OOPS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEJNQ4AM9SDiUGIRF3NallDDn_nDFjHm8aR7vICiuzZ-guHXS6eluMpevdx28lujow2SrdkmlVjHXOwfAsq3f0BOyQGqh758bgiVWXN3_FF1fPtlsxsPZdNLbHrrRenEYpw2-jZU5b9Xy/s1600/Matt+Sealer+OOPS.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We've all done it - we paint up something and think it's the bee's knees, and want to immediately seal it to protect the finish. Sure, we could use brush on sealer (Winsor & Newton Gallaria, Daler Rowney Soluble, Or Liquitex Matte are best choices, in that order) but that's a lot of work. So, we go outside in the humid-ass summer weather and decide to squirt some Dullcote, Krylon Matte, or other spray sealer, and you invariably end up with a model that looks like it has been covered in a sheet of ice. Now, if you WANT that effect for some sort of glacial snow monster, God bless you, but in most cases, you're spewing a stream of expletives that would make George Carlin blush.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The reason this happens is that when you seal the model, atomized micro-droplets of water will become trapped in the finish. If you try to seal a model in high humidity, you are an asshole for tempting fate, just as I have been so many times, living in the South. You should know better. But, a</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">las, I have compiled the wisdom of my own lessons learned as well as those on the internet and have decided to provide you some sure-fire methods to sort that shit right out, restoring your model to its initial magnificence:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmmwtZ19uXHohtfyvzUY82ED9yWsRhKzSGLiAbgoomaiQkrJ7OCfxVyjmGoR3BMvfB40-cICoNiXzgIUsbBmKL9dmYxVhhSR350eChjCaFS7XU6ZyVcA5QpfQ_293fy9qUpdf72J6j4F1/s1600/Oil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmmwtZ19uXHohtfyvzUY82ED9yWsRhKzSGLiAbgoomaiQkrJ7OCfxVyjmGoR3BMvfB40-cICoNiXzgIUsbBmKL9dmYxVhhSR350eChjCaFS7XU6ZyVcA5QpfQ_293fy9qUpdf72J6j4F1/s200/Oil.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. Rubbing the model with a cotton wad soaked in olive oil can remove the frost. This is particularly effective for scenery with flat surfaces. Not so much if you can't get into the nooks and crannies (TM). The oils drive out the surface water droplets, and then when you wash the model in soapy water, the oils wash away and your model should be restored. This doesn't always work, but it's a simple first line of attack.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEG67yyvdQBCBeIhojljOL27RMUf1WcCnKKxA4aMHLg0hU0H1ZmHhdZPoM5BycyfzBJF4QBkleqXWBAGSNypz3OKqqNdHAbL7b9Cr2MX_nxmngvaVmClPNm9Pj6eNjHFoxs5Jf9d9t8A1/s1600/Future+Floor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMEG67yyvdQBCBeIhojljOL27RMUf1WcCnKKxA4aMHLg0hU0H1ZmHhdZPoM5BycyfzBJF4QBkleqXWBAGSNypz3OKqqNdHAbL7b9Cr2MX_nxmngvaVmClPNm9Pj6eNjHFoxs5Jf9d9t8A1/s200/Future+Floor.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. Future Acrylic Floor Polish is the most underrated and unknown sealer on the planet. The shit is magical. If you brush on a coat over the model, or even airbrush it (thinned), it will put on a super-durable sealant, and then when winter comes and there's no humidity, you can spray dullkote over it to regain that matte finish. Now, if you DON'T have this in your stock already, it's clear you're an amateur, because as I noted, this shit is magical. Use 50/50 Future and Water and then add small amounts of color (read: paint) to create incredible washes and inks that seal as well as pigment your models. Incredible shit.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8s0JWGE2UdCpaXb9cK7KAqpifI4UW1cCAx-YsyfAjwN8S8vlabX4fMRCMfDsF7KhLEp9MdxG0-b3ge9sF9y1Ei4E8XvkN_4k0OISbZ61Ir140rfzlGkp1SRZ673DZ8IH0lnclgb0Ljbv/s1600/Dryer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8s0JWGE2UdCpaXb9cK7KAqpifI4UW1cCAx-YsyfAjwN8S8vlabX4fMRCMfDsF7KhLEp9MdxG0-b3ge9sF9y1Ei4E8XvkN_4k0OISbZ61Ir140rfzlGkp1SRZ673DZ8IH0lnclgb0Ljbv/s200/Dryer.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3. Use a hair dryer or heat lamp! You can SOMETIMES remove frost by using a hair dryer, heat lamp, or household small room heater. The frost is actually water micro-droplets that get trapped in the sealant, which causes that hazy effect. If you use a heat source and get the model up to high temperatures, you can steam off the water vapor and restore the model. I shouldn't have to say this, but I will: Don't do this on plastics unless you want it to turn into a pile of melted plastic. Also be aware that some paints have a very low smoke point and you can literally burn black marks onto your models if you're not careful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4. Toss that bad boy in the oven, set for 225F, in order to achieve the same effect as using a hair dryer. The boiling point of water is 212F/100C and thus you can put a model in the oven for 10-15 minutes (preheat the oven!!) and drive off the water. The downside to this method is that plastic bases, flocking, and other wee bits can melt. This should be a last resort on a competition-quality model, and remove the base when you do it or you're probably going to melt it anyhow. Again, ONLY METAL MODELS, and be aware that you run the risk of blackening or charring the model's paint job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">5. SEAL THAT BITCH AGAIN! You can spray right over the model once it's dried for 24 hours, and it completely removes the frost effect. This is the obvious one, but people get scared that they'll seal on the frost and irrevocably fuck their shit up. Nope, just reseal and you're good. I shouldn't have to say this, but again, I will: Don't spray it again in humid weather or you'll just repeat the results and add more layers of frost. Either spray it outdoors and then bring it into a humidity controlled environment, or just wait for a good spray day. You can wait years to respray, too; it's not as if time somehow makes any difference in the impingement of water vapor under the sealant. Patience is absolutely your friend when it comes to the hobby of miniatures painting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For me, I think the BEST POSSIBLE METHOD of sealing a model is to use brush on sealant, because you never over-spray, and you can control the thickness. Brush on sealants are also always a better protective coating because of the viscosity and the thixotropic nature of the varnishes on the market. An urban legend exists that says that matte sealants are inherently weaker than gloss, but allow me to dispel that myth in one word: BOLLOCKS. The best way to seal a model is with a </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">brushed-on gloss coat of Liquitex Gloss Acrylic Sealant before getting sprayed with Dullcote or Krylon Matte. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Brushed-on coats are thicker and provide a better seal, and on top of that, the gloss finish brings out some of the colors better, especially blacks and metallics. They're also easier to spot if you miss an area, especially under bright light. The matte spray-coat over the top of that adds an extra layer of protection as well as removing the shine and making the model look more realistic. That, and the multiple layering of sealants cause r</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ough handling and dude-drops to bounce off my models' paint like bullets off of Superman's balls.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Hope this helps you out, I know I struggled with this damned Kentucky humidity for YEARS and finally realized that you can't fight nature...it's simply better to wait until night when the humidity is lower.</span>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-18952151967682345212013-08-06T10:34:00.000-07:002013-08-06T10:34:19.711-07:00Gunship! First Strike: I'll Blow You Up Just As Soon As I Can Figure Out How!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynbv-aoL34XbipwR-zskIwJF__swmoONcplwGk_bVsdYqmE7q_EobIQqZcNjAQtwyFrkg5NU4ydEvb-4RbyYjDFBuVYtYNL16bXlkkTa90xciJG06NQwC88bZo3Kktq5M7SpDFq6kWyTP/s1600/GSFSBox.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynbv-aoL34XbipwR-zskIwJF__swmoONcplwGk_bVsdYqmE7q_EobIQqZcNjAQtwyFrkg5NU4ydEvb-4RbyYjDFBuVYtYNL16bXlkkTa90xciJG06NQwC88bZo3Kktq5M7SpDFq6kWyTP/s320/GSFSBox.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A couple weeks ago the folks at <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/">Escape Pod Games</a> offered me a copy of Gunship! First Strike to review in anticipation of their latest Kickstarter, slated to start in a few days. I accepted as I've really wanted to play it after Michael Barnes <a href="http://www.nohighscores.com/2013/04/04/cracked-lcd-gunship-first-strike-in-review/">mostly glowing review</a>, plus, I haven't written as often as I'd liked in the last six months due to several issues revolving around some Circus members getting sick with cancer, among other things. The long and short is that the game has tons of great ideas, and it delivers on a whole lot of them, but in all the years of playing games, I've never found one that was so absolutely polarizing. The people that I played this with either loved it, or as one person said, "It's amazing...it's what capital ship combat should be!", or as one person who hated it said, "I feel like this game just raped my mind. Is that even possible?" In short, it really was that polarizing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game's initial incarnation is a two-player, head to head battle between two gunships, two space carriers, and some fighters. It allows you to put whatever weapons on your ship that you want, without restriction, and hockey fight until one side's carrier is obliterated. You can even head to the carrier to repair your ship or change weapons, which is really cool. In between rounds your big carriers shoot one another too, which acts as sort of a timer and adds some tension, which is also really cool. You can even deploy fighters to screen your attacks against the carrier, which is super cool. Like I said before, it's got a lot of great ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A subsequent expansion to the base game added even more weapons and options to lock onto your ships in the form of <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/accessories-expansions/upgrade-decks/">upgrades</a>, so you could really customize your ship to be in lock step with your strategies. These additions to the menu are really very cool, giving a lot more flexibility in how you build your gunship and adding a lot more to think about. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://escapepodgames.com/accessories-expansions/punchboard-unit-tokens/">Another expansion</a> added two more sets of ships, allowing four players to go head-to-head in team games or all-out death matches. And yes, yet another expansion added terrain effects in the form of <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/accessories-expansions/gunship-asteroids/">asteroids</a>, and <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/accessories-expansions/gunship-crewmates/">yet another expansion still</a> added crew members, making it much more like <a href="http://www.starcommandgame.com/home.html">Star Command</a> in that you can assign and move crewmen to make your ship more effective. With all these expansions, the game really became much more a game system than a stand alone product. I love sandbox designs, and this really is sort of a dream come true in that regard, because it pushes all the right buttons in that respect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The artwork is really nice, and while the cards are really kind of cheap in that they're flimsy and easily bend, and the chipboard ship boards are a little warped, the production value in the game is really very good. If I had to make one overwhelming complaint, it's that the gunship boards are truly huge, and if I had my way, the boards would've been half their size and the cards would've been the same half-size cards that are found in Arkham Horror and other FFG games. There's just no credible reason that the main boards had to be so large. In a four player game, my four by five foot table was almost entirely covered with stuff, which made the game feel cramped, even though the game is mostly played off of those boards. It's no disparagement of the game, though, it's just that it takes up a disproportionate amount of table space for such a simple game. My review copy also had the <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/accessories-expansions/punchboard-unit-tokens-2/">ship tokens upgrade</a>, and of all the bits in the game, those were the real icing. I ADORED them because before those bits, you used cards to denote the location of your fighters and gunship. They just look pretty and they save some space, both of which kind of float my boat. I think they might even be better than if miniatures were included, which is high praise from a miniature nut like me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One of my favorite things about the game's physical design, and my opinion was shared by everyone, not just the people who liked the game, was that the ship could have its wings and other parts blown clean off, and when they got blown off, they literally come off of the ship. No tokens, no "blast markers" or anything, you take those parts off and they're gone. That's just fucking cool. It's the difference between Hot Wheels and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMEMPErsYbA">Hot Wheels Crack Ups</a>, if you're old enough to remember them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, there's one tremendous blemish on the game that almost got me to the point of T<a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/04/toe-to-toe-nuklr-combat-with-rooskies.html">oe to Toe</a> reviewing the game, and "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM0wP07wD2g">they shoulda betta known betta</a>": the <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/rulebook/">rulebook</a> is utterly terrible in every conceivable way. All seven of us who played this game agreed on this point. It didn't come with a player aid, which totally sucked ass, but after some googling and BGG hunting, I found that they rectified the situation <a href="http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/87596/player-aid-attack-chart">by making one that you could print</a>. After printing, you could almost play the whole game off this thing. That said, the learning game was BRUTAL for all of us, and I had to do it twice because I played with two groups.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL2Vh2FApGMALnbZiyMEnqTF97LzyVgz7Az6RApuKSnvi5dwrqTQnkgMYKNBBzk-ZzbciXGSjpl1rmHOoGtwYCnFBbFoBuQO4cqIHJFJF6Ll7PSSS2xZmG_lUwedTAxiH4J8mg3_eHkAP/s1600/Ion+Rules.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJL2Vh2FApGMALnbZiyMEnqTF97LzyVgz7Az6RApuKSnvi5dwrqTQnkgMYKNBBzk-ZzbciXGSjpl1rmHOoGtwYCnFBbFoBuQO4cqIHJFJF6Ll7PSSS2xZmG_lUwedTAxiH4J8mg3_eHkAP/s200/Ion+Rules.jpeg" width="193" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The fact is that there's a lot of rules questions that came up, and there was no easy way to figure out the answer. For instance, your ship gets hit with an Ionization effect that makes affected areas impossible to repair, and to make matters worse, the ionization travels around your ship board indefinitely, screwing up your plans. We wanted to know how to get rid of it in-flight, but we read and reread the rules over and over trying to find it. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The only reference to getting rid of it is on the carrier, if you land, but that wasn't even in the section about ionization, but rather in the carrier section. So, we assumed (correctly) that the only way to get rid of it was on the carrier, but it would've been SO MUCH BETTER had they simply put one sentence in the Ionization Damage section, "The only way to remove ionization cards on your ship is by removing them on the carrier, or if X happens." With an over-long rulebook to begin with, really, would one sentence hurt? There's a lot of little things like this, and it made learning and teaching the game a truly painful experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All that said, the game is surprisingly quick and fun to play, and easy to understand once you get past the initial steep learning curve and go searching for answers. The FAQ on their site is also utterly devoid of half of the answers found on BGG, which kind of pissed me off, since it's their game and they shouldn't rely on BGG to host their answers, especially those that cover important aspects of the game. Anyhow, turns literally take under a minute in almost all cases, and combat is simple and easy to resolve, yet effective and fun. Combat is resolved with specialty dice in some cases, and gunship attacks are initiated by playing cards in your hand that match the weaponry on the ship. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The trick to using your gunship is that you can either bet on catching lots of certain kinds of cards by loading your ship with one kind of weapon, which allows you to have devastating attacks, or you can mix it up a bit, loading many different types of guns on your ship to ensure that your odds of being able to attack at all are high. None of the players complained that the game was too random, even after I got ultra lucky and managed to tag an enemy gunship with three ionization cards, effectively fucking his shit up like there's no tomorrow. Incidentally, for him, there was no tomorrow after my teammate subsequently gutted his disabled ship on the following turn, destroying his sad, pathetic little gunship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The base game is fine as is, but the upgrade packs really add a lot to the game for a reasonable price. I like that you can buy them a' la carte or can get the <a href="http://escapepodgames.com/gunship-first-strike/purchase/">Arsenal bundle</a>, but at a total of ninety bucks for the base game and the arsenal pack, I'm not sure the game commands such a high price. Like I said before, you're going to either love it or hate it, but I honestly think that the pain of the learning game takes the shine off of what would otherwise be a really killer game, and that tainted people's perception. A couple players refused to play again after the learning game, but those that played a second game really dug it a lot and once we got in the groove of understanding how everything worked, the game sped by and we were blowing smoking holes in one another. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I like the game well enough to want to play again, once I figured it all out, and it reminded me a lot of another game I really liked, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/03/zombie-survival-how-world-ends-in-two.html">Zombie Survival</a> in the fact that you can build your ship up the way you want and then you have to deal with the decisions because you can't control the card draws or the game state after the game's started. It also has a strong similarity to games like Battletech and Ogre because hit locations matter a lot. There's not many games that I've played with this sort of "hit locations matter" and it really adds a lot of tension to the game, especially when you have the "Bulls-eye" card which allows you to choose which location to apply damage to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I think, in the final analysis, if you take the time to muddle through the poorly written rules and use the player aid, you'll end up with a really good time. I think the game has tons of merit, and aside from my complaints of having boards that are just too damned big for what they are and the game being hard to learn, it's a really fun, fast playing game. I think it shines the most with two players, as my daughter and I had a blast blowing each other into space junk, but it's still good with three players, although I think human nature kicks in and causes players to casually team up and beat on the most wounded guy mercilessly. That's not really a game flaw as much as taking advantage of a weak player. Four player team games are also really fun, so it's pretty good with four as well, although it can add some downtime. Some people don't like player elimination games, but I relish them as it forces a player to play smarter, knowing that he'll have to sit and watch if he is killed off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /><b>Why I'd Name My Band "Jefferson Gunship" And Be A Rock Legend:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Cool art and bits make this fun to look at on the table</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The fact that this is more a "game system" than a "game" gives huge replay value</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Fast and furious turns keep the players' attention on the game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Hit locations and moving damage effects add huge tension</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Lots of expansion material and each adds something cool to the game</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I Wouldn't Recommend This To Everyone, Even For A Klondike Bar:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The boards and cards are too damned big and take up too much space</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It's a Kickstarter game, and "Kickstarter" translates from Gamese to "Fucking Expensive"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- This may be the worst rule book I've ever had to decipher in 20+ years of gaming</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- You kind of HAVE to have an experienced player teach the game or it's brutal</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This game isn't an autobuy for me, and it's expensive if you get the full monty, but if you have a hard on for space combat games that are part simulation and part action game, then this might very well be something you like a whole lot. I highly recommend that you play the game with someone who has played it before and can explain it well to alleviate some of the "first game blues" that we experienced. Further, if Universal Head made a rules summary or if Escape Pod Games rewrote the rules in a more streamlined, cross-referenced manner I think it would really garner the support and following I think it probably could garner.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3.5/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Check it out here, at the Escape Pod Games site:</i></span><br />
<a href="http://escapepodgames.com/"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://escapepodgames.com/</span></i></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Check it out the rules, if you dare:</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://escapepodgames.com/rulebook/">http://escapepodgames.com/rulebook/</a></span></i>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5766184212934535803.post-6635634773536197012013-08-03T19:02:00.002-07:002013-08-03T19:02:46.822-07:00Trick Or Treat - Tricks You With Its Youthful Look, Treats You With A Box Full Of Awesome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Patrick Leder, the designer of one of my favorite games, <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/08/five-fingered-severance-you-too-can.html">Five Fingered Severance</a>, Kickstarted a game a while back called <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074786394/trick-or-treat-card-game/posts/416852">Trick or Treat</a> (ToT), but it totally went under my radar because I'm not really keen on Kickstarter, in general, and I don't normally dig pure card games very much. Well, a couple weeks ago, Patrick contacted me about reviewing the game and because I loved FFS so much, I figured I'd give it a go, especially as one of my core goals for starting Superfly Circus was to tell people about games they might not have heard about. So, I got a review copy, and after a couple days of thinking about playing it, we got it to the table and were pleasantly surprised. A</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">fter 9 plays in four days, I can tell you that not only did I absolutely love it, but every single person of the 7 other people that have played it loved it as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Before I tell you about the specifics of ToT, I should probably tell you what it is: it's a two to five player card game that acts like a board game, and the theme is about a bunch of kids trick or treating. The booklet and the promotional stuff on Kickstarter call it a "Rummy-style" set collection game, but I find almost no resemblance to Rummy at all other than the fact that you score by collecting sets. It's not like any pairs or runs will score; you always have three goal cards that show specific sets that you're trying to complete, but if someone completes a goal set before you can, that goal comes off the board and you're screwed out of the points you were looking to collect. I guess there are some similarities to Rummy but only in that there's sets involved, and there's a sort of tableau system to take cards from, but that's about it. This is so much better than Rummy in a lot of ways, and I really love Rummy, so it's high praise indeed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Before I go too far, I'd like to tell you about the production. It comes in a small deck box that is just the right size for the decks, and it has a rule sheet that looks to be one-third of an 11 by 17 sheet, lengthwise. The cards are all decent and thick, with cartoony art that would make you believe it's a game for kids; the art is reminiscent of the Wii game, Guilty Party. It's not bad art at all, but if I had to drill down to one descriptive word, that word would be "simple". All in all, I was pleased with everything, especially the very well written rule sheet, which can be read in one sitting on the pot. The card layout is really smart, with the key bits written right on the cards to remind everyone what's what. Even the icons make sense, which is a rarity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The only single complaint we all had, which in my book is a big one, is that there are required components missing, a 'la Munchkin: the game requires tokens which you are told in the rule book to go and find, such as pennies or whatever. I hate that, and to be honest, I had to get about forty pennies to play a four player game because so many can be in play at once. In fact, I initially grabbed maybe 20 of them and we ran out and I had to go back to the piggy bank to get more. I'm sure that it would've been a stretch goal or something down the road, but in the end, they were missing, I was inconvenienced, and if you want to play this at a cafe or something, you'll need to use three tables' worth of sugar packets which may get you thrown out of the place. That, and I don't want to use pennies, which may be seen as an endorsement of the idea that Abe Lincoln really is a Vampire Hunter or some such bollocks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, earlier, I said it was more like a board game, and this is because there's three main types of cards, one of which are location cards, and these are laid out on the table for the players to visit and perform actions on. Players each get a player card which they continually move to locations in order to collect cards or screw over opponents, and so it's really more of a poor man's board game in that respect. Because I didn't have a felt table and I've already committed to giving Superfly Circus reader Craig G. (who gets it because of a post on our<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SuperflyCircus"> Facebook page</a>), I didn't want to jack up the card edges so we forewent using the player cards and dropped some horror-themed miniatures down. It made the game much quicker, and really, who wouldn't want to be represented by a werewolf who is tearing a man's legs off? It's not required, but it's just that my table is really slick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ToT isn't just about running around the board and getting candy sets quicker than the next guy, though. I mean, that's the goal, but that's not all that you do. Each location card, of which there's never less than seven, has a special ability that you play. Some get you cards, sure, but others do nasty, nasty things. The Alley card allows you to move the Bully character, which is the ToT equivalent of the Grim Reaper in Talisman, and who allows you to not only block a location, but also allows you to steal a card from every player on the card that was affected. The Haunted House location allows you to discard up to three cards, and for each card, you put three "fear tokens" (the coins I talked about) on EACH opponent's card, robbing them of one point per token at the end of the game. The tokens can also be removed from your till at the Haunted House if you spend cards there in the same fashion, but only you get to discard the tokens, whereas everyone else still has them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On top of the location and treat cards, there's also "trick cards" which spice up the game. Each is a rule-breaking card, and some help you while others hurt others. The "Move the Bully" card allows you to put the Bully on someone's space, knocking them off the board and taking one of their cards, while the "Sneak" card allows you to move onto a space with the Bully or that already has a player there, both of which are normally illegal. There's several more cards as well, with truly different effects, so it's not just a bunch of "take that" cards that are all alike. These cards really do change the game because you are always cognizant of the fact that someone can nail you with one, so you have to try to remember if someone took one off of one of the tableaus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The game isn't as quick as I first assumed it would be, and in fact, the game took about an hour to play through with four of us playing. Turns are actually really quick, so the fact that it's an hour should indicate that there's a lot of stuff you'll be doing. You can truncate the game to your timetable by getting rid of the "set cards", because the game ends when you run out of them, essentially, so if you have a half an hour, dump half the cards and you're all set. It doesn't outlive its welcome, and one of the truest signs of a great game is that you run out of turns before you "feel done". I was always left wishing I had one or two more turns at the end, and I never got tired of playing it. In fact, I'm writing this right now, dead tired, because I was up until 2:30AM last night playing this game. We played two in a row, and they all demanded it, which is another sign that it's a great game.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The long and short is that this is a great little backstabbity, adversarial game, one that is a little more than a filler and a little less than a main event, but one that myself and every single person who played it wanted to play again and again. With it having only a few blemishes, the worst being the lack of tokens, this is one hell of a great value at around twenty duckets. I sure wish it had funded more because from the KS page, I see that the stretch goals would've been nice to have had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why Stealing Kids' Candy Was Never So Much Fun In Real Life:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Fast, furious game play with little down time makes this exciting and engaging</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- The backstabbery really rustles my jimmies and adds drama to the game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- It plays more like a board game than a card game</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Length of play is variable and is perfect for the game style</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- This would be a cool asynch-play IOS game someday (hint, hint, Patrick)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Why I Want To Steal All Of Patrick's Shit:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- NO TOKENS!!!?!!??!? I HATE THAT SHIT.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Not a huge fan of the art, although it's effective and isn't ugly or distracting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">- Direct sales only for now, so no Coolstuff discounts</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Overall:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I really love this little game, and I've already contacted the designer to buy the game since I've committed to giving this copy up as I noted, per <a href="http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-how-we-dooooo-it.html">Circus policy</a>, and if you want a copy, you have to get it direct from Patrick, whose website is <a href="http://www.ledergames.com/">here</a>, or via BGG private mail; his user name is GreenM. The response was overwhelmingly positive from the Circus Freaks, which is not the norm, and this is the kind of game you can sit and play over and over, glass of spirits or beer in hand, and never really get sick of it. Many people gave this game a perfect 5 Star rating, but since I view it as incomplete due to the lack of a required component and was vocal about that, many people backed their score down to a 4.5 Star rating, which ended up being the average.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Rating:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4.5/5 Stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Find the Kickstarter page, complete with video, here: </i></span><br />
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074786394/trick-or-treat-card-game"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074786394/trick-or-treat-card-game</span></i></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Buy it here: </span></i><br />
<a href="http://www.ledergames.com/"><i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">http://www.ledergames.com/</span></i></a>=+=SuperflyTNT=+=http://www.blogger.com/profile/05476110006378606325noreply@blogger.com0