Board Games
July 1, 2009
Critical Gamers' June 2009 Board Game Roundup
We just can't believe it. The year is already half over. Our liver only just got over our holiday party, and it's already almost 2010.
That's quite the sobering number; when we were kids back in the 70s and 80s we thought 2010 was officially "the future" (2001 A Space Odyssey was before our time, an obviously not an accurate target, so we only had John Lithgow and Roy Schnieder versus the friendly space Russians as our version of potential future events).
And the way we see it, Jupiter will go Nova in just 6 months time, so it's time to get some gaming-in while we still have a night time. Thankfully our countdown starts with a bang. The World of Warcraft set release Fields of Honor is hitting stores right about now. Also our new board game obsession Dominion is slated to expand in just a week's time. We're giddy over this, considering the game already doesn't seem to play the same way twice. Oh boy, it's going to be a good July.
And of course we'll continue to get more updates on upcoming releases, including Battlestar Galatica Pegasus, the Warhammer Board Game "Chaos in the Old World", Middle Earth Quest, and the new Axis & Allies 1942 baseline, all of which should rock our world this fall.
Here's a look back at the news of June:
Board Games
Collectable Card Games
Gaming Culture
Gaming News
Party Games
Variants
World of Warcraft TCG
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June 30, 2009
BattleLore: Heroes Expansion Goes Epic
Late last summer the Battlelore Fantasy Wargame System franchise changed hands from the slick, colorful and approachable publisher Days of Wonder to the rich, enthralling, but sometimes rules-heavy Fantasy Flight Games. Both of these houses are on our top 5 publisher's list, so we weren't too worried with the hand off. Still, we were a bit concerned that Fantasy Flight Games might complicate a nicely stream-lined system with a slew of extra chits and rules.
And while it seems seems that the game will in fact notch-up the complexity scale with the newly announced Heroes Expansion, the additions to the game are being done in a really interesting and potentially rewarding way.
BattleLore Heroes - due out by the end of the year - introduces persistent characters that level up through numerous adventures (ie: battles). Its kind of like D&D meets a Battle Field (which kinda brings things full circle if you think about it).
The expansion will include 10 different classes, each with their own set of upgradable skills and abilities. Details on the first two classes have already hit the web, with preview articles for the Rogue and Cleric classes.
The articles are short, but the ideas are enough to pique our interest in the BattleLore system again, which has been a little slow in its development recently. We'll keep you posted of any more interesting news as more details emerge. Until then, here are the Expansion's official details:
"BattleLore: Heroes introduces player-created Leaders and Champions to augment your camp's forces in battles.
As with all journeys, the beginning is never easy. As a fledgling adventurer, you begin with a bare minimum of skills and artifacts to help you combat the enemy. Adventures have the potential to reward your intrepid Hero greatly if he performs well. But beware, battlefields are not without peril, and taking too many wounds may force your Hero into an unwanted early retirement.
Prepare yourself for the journey of a lifetime!
BattleLore: Heroes includes 10 unique Hero figures, a Rules booklet, 110 Skill, Artifact, and Landmark cards, and much more!"
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June 26, 2009
The Willy Wonka Dice Machine
Simply crazy - or crazy brilliant - take your pick. This jobber was built for two major reasons. The first was that it was hobbyist's dream, but more importantly it's the manifested answer to overly critical players of GamesByEmail.com. We remember some bickering last year regarding the 'trendiness' of the Random Algorithms the site used to create the dice rolls of their games. These weren't horrible algorithms, actually they were top notch, using numbers from Random.org and another tested random number generator algorithms. Still, that wasn't enough to silence the critics. Apparently players can get pretty defiant when a bunch of rolls don't go their way.
The new Dice-O-Matic should shut them up. Here's the full story.
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June 24, 2009
Top 5 Board Games From Our Childhood (aka the 1980's)
We've been around the webosphere for a while, and some of you might have gotten to know us quite a bit. But still nothing paints a picture about our style of gaming better than regressing into our childhood memories and hand picking the best games from our younger years.
We've taken a considerable amount of time with this exercise, surveying the group and pacing the games in order using the most agreeable means possible. You could imagine this being a difficult process with all the pretty-haired egos sitting around our gaming table, so we just went all Stalin and 'liquidated' the unbelievers in our group. The survivors agreed upon the following list in short order:
Continue reading: "Top 5 Board Games From Our Childhood (aka the 1980's)"
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June 22, 2009
Stay Frosty with Your Board Game News
We interrupt our normal line of Board Game News updates for this important update...
Are you browsing the web like a sucker? Have you ever thought that you'd have a lot more free time in your day if you didn't have to go trough your daily rotation of web sites? Are you feeling stressed, experiencing hair loss, and generally bored with how you look in the mirror?
Well it's time to put the Internets to work for you.
Critical Gamers offers a wide variety of ways to deliver the latest latest Board Game news and previews delivered to directly to your Email Inbox, Twitter Homepage and/or RSS Reader (like Google Reader). Just click on your preferred method of delivery and chose 8 Track, Cassette or CD, and we'll ensure that your mailbox will be chalkfull of gaming news just in time for Bastille Day.
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June 16, 2009
Battlestar Galactica Expansion: Pegasus Announced
This is perhaps the best board gaming we'll hear all year. Last year's Battlestar Galactica board game was probably our favorite release of the year, and now it's first expansion has been announced! Even better: it's coming out before the end of the year.
The title of the expansion "Pegasus" will be familiar to fans of the TV series. The Battlestar Pegasus was another Battlestar that survived the initial cylon attacks, though the Pegasus and Galactica were unaware of one another's existence, and each thought they were the sole survivors of the Human race. The disparity in the crew's philosophies ranging topics from the rights of cilivians, the impacts of martial law, and the question on how human cylons really are (and if they should be treated humainly), made for some pretty entertaining social and physical conflicts during the short run the Pegasus crew remained.. alive.
It'll be very interesting to see how the characters from the Pegasus' crew will mix with the ones of Galactica old. Surely they'll have some more aggressive and cylon-phobic tendencies, and maybe even a bit more firepower to boot.
Along with Pegaus flying along side Galactica, the expansion will comes with yet another companion board, sporting locations from the colony of New Caprica. Details are a bit sparse on how this will play with the original content, but the fact that its optional, and that it's generally MORE Battlestar Galactica goodness, has us excited.
More information, including images of the new board layout, can be found in the Fantasy Flight Games preview article Evolution and Rebellion. We'll also keep you posted as new preview articles are published on FFG's website.
Here are the expansion's official details:
This fall brings the first expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. The Pegasus expansion adds two new supplemental game boards featuring the Battlestar Pegasus and the planet of New Caprica, seven new characters, a new Cylon Locations overlay, two plastic Basestars, as well as new Destination, Crisis, Loyalty, Quorum, Super Crisis, and Skill cards.
The new Pegasus board can be used by itself or together with the New Caprica board to create the game you desire - use the Pegasus alone for the additional firepower she provides, or add the New Caprica board to simulate the rebellion on the human colony, bringing the game to an epic level.
New rules introduce the ability to play as a new character type - the Cylon Leader, with a new Treachery Skill card type.
How will the crews of the Galactica and the Pegasus mesh when they join each other on your game table? Will the Cylons be able to subjugate the human rebellion on New Caprica? Will an open Cylon Leader be able to vent the last remaining humans into space, giving the toasters control over the galaxy?
Pegasus will be FTL jumping into your friendly local game store this Fall. Be on the lookout for previews leading up to the expansion's release.
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June 11, 2009
The Kids of Carcassonne - You Know, for KIds!
It's never too early to introduce kids to board gaming (unless they're hellbent on digesting a healthy variety of colored pieces of course) And now once they've conquered the traditional Candyland you can easily start your child's gaming tastes along the line of Eurogame titles that we know and love.
The Kids of Carcassonne [Amazon, Funagain] sports easier rules, always matching pieces,and is the perfect stepping stone to more advance Carcassonne titles. The game is also targeted for players Age 4 and up, which means it quite the sweet spot for the young ones.
Here are the official details:
"On 14 July, the national holiday in France, the sheep, chickens and cows are set free in the town of Carcassonne. The children have lots of fun catching the animals before dusk.
The players in turn draw a landscape tile and place it; unlike in normal Carcassonne, they always match. Amongst other features, the tiles show children in the player colors on the roads. Whenever a road is finished, every player places one of his meeples on each appropriate picture. The first player who manages to place all of his meeples wins the game."
Also checkout the Game's BGG Page for user reviews and more info. One of the most popular reviews there cites the game as "The perfect 'gateway game' for geek parents."
The Kids of Carcassonne is now shipping from Amazon and Funagain Games.
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June 9, 2009
Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror Expansion
The H.P. Lovecraft themed horror board game series Arkahm Horror has just expanded, again, and it's another doozey. Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror Expansion [Amazon, Funagain] adds the sleepy coastal town of Innsmouth to your monster slaying adventures, including a new board extension, new monsters and 16 new cast members to a game that already has a surprising amount of depth.
The game can be used in conjunction with the other expansions, or can be mixed and matched with a subset of them as you see fit. Please note that you really don't have to play with all the expansions at once.. cause that's some serious time and table space. But sliding Innmouth in place of one the other jobbers, or using it to expand upon the original game, makes for some great gaming.
And of course Innsmouth isn't just a new board with purty pictures; it includes new gameplay elements on content up the wazzo. Most notable are the new character story cards (see preview article "Story Time") that include game mechanic hooks, not only for the new characters of Innsmouth, but for the main game and for characters from all past expansions to boot. Hows that for being thorough?
If you're thirsty for more speicifc details, Fantasy Flight Games have posted a series of preview articles regarding the new mechanics of the game, and a preview of some of the tentacly baddies that wait for you within:
- Story Time
- The Ancient Ones Rise from the Sea at Innsmouth
- Monstrous Awakenings
- Fresh Faces
- The Tide Is Rising
And of course, how could we forget the game's official details:
Innsmouth Horror introduces several new game concepts to the Arkham Horror board game, including Personal Stories unique to each investigator as well as the Innsmouth Look. The town of Innsmouth is hostile to the investigators, and they may well find themselves thrown in jail and fed to a Shoggoth while they search the town for evidence to call in the Feds. However, leaving Innsmouth to fester is a bad idea, since the Deep Ones will gather and rise, bringing with them the Ancient One.
Innsmouth Horror also adds 16 new investigators, eight new Ancient Ones, two new Heralds, Epic Battle cards for the new Ancient Ones, over 30 new monster markers, plenty of new encounters, and an expansion board featuring the town of Innsmouth. Over all, this expansion adds over 300 new cards to the base game.
Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror Expansion is now shipping from Amazon and Funagain Games.
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June 5, 2009
Warhammer Renters the Chaotic World of Board Games
More great news from Fantasy Flight Games - their board game division is working to bring the flavor of the Warhammer tactical tabletop game to our world of less-than-die-hard gamers. You know, those of us who don't find it worthwhile to spend hours painting an army of goblins and chaos priests.
Wait, that came out wrong. We didn't mean to alienate anyone. If that's you're thing, then rock. However, we prefer the boxed games with easy setup and take down times, one up front cost, and not quite the money sink. We already have enough problems.
Anyway, the newly announced Chaos in the Old World puts each player in control of competing gods. What's great is that you're not actually in direct competition, each god is trying to spread chaos across the Old World, but each on does it in their own way. We're a huge fan of these disjointed goal type games - when done properly - because the flavor of the competition is pitched on an angle, nuancey, and just isn't as 'in your face!' . Each god is doing their own thing within its own theme, and that just makes things more interesting throughout an entire gaming session. Anyway, here's a great description of the gods:
"Chaos in the Old World makes you a god. Each god's distinctive powers and legion of followers grant you unique strengths and diabolical abilities with which to corrupt and enslave the Old World. Khorne, the Blood God, the Skulltaker, lusts for death and battle. Nurgle, the Plaguelord, the Father of Corruption, luxuriates in filth and disease. Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways, the Great Conspirator, plots the fate of the universe. Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure and Pain, the Lord of Temptations, lures even the most steadfast to his six deadly seductions."
- The Ruinous Powers Descend From The North
Details of the game are still a bit up in the air, but Fantasy Flight Games have posted 2 previews. The Ruinous Powers Descend From The North announces the game and introduces the theme as a whole, and Word of the Creator further breaks-down your roll as a god of Chaos. What could be finer?
Currently FuangainGames lists the title as shipping in October, but given Fantasy Flight's recent October missed targets, we'd expect 1Q 2010 release. We'll let you know as more details emerge.
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June 1, 2009
Critical Gamers' May 2009 Board Game Roundup
Spring is in the air, and in the board gaming world that means releases are about to slow through the summer months. That's cool though, because this past Winter has had a lot of great releases. Spring also means that publishers are revealing new titles meant for Holiday 2009.
We've already gotten world of the next baseline iteration of Axis & Allies: 1942, which is based on the rules and alternative setup of the A&A 50th Anniversary Edition, and will replace Axis & Allies Revised as the new mainstay of A&A gaming.
Also recently announced, and soon to be published, is the cooperative board game Space Alert, which challenges players to keep their spaceship alive throughout a series of astro crises. Each crisis is pulled from a variety of decks, and is queued from unique audio CD which sports atmospheric music on special tracks, each one with a different pacing of events and card draws. Initial reports of the game have Space Alert being one of the best games of the year, and has already made the Dice Tower's Game of the Year Nominee list (the game had limited availability at trade shows last year).
This month also saw other notable announcements, like a new Lord of the Rings game Middle-earth Quest, the announcement that Death Knights will be rolled into the next World of Warcraft TCG release, and release of the latest Memoir '44 expansion: Tigers in the Snow & Operation Market Garden.
Good Gaming Folks!
Board Games
Collectable Card Games
Gaming News
RPGs
World of Warcraft TCG
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May 27, 2009
2009 Board Game of Year Award Nominees at The Dice Tower
The boys over at The Dice Tower are game review demigods. Their word is usually the moderate voice of the game community, and they play more games than any reviewer we know.
We'
ve said it before and we'll say it again: these guys seriously know what they're talking about.
So we're stoked to see that some of our favorite games from the last year, and a lot of the games we've focused our coverage upon, have been nominated for numerous categories. Games like Chicago Express, Argicola, Space Alert, and Pandemic, which we've covered. But also games we've fixated on, like Battlestar Galactica which has been nominated for Best Game of the Year, Most Innovative Game, and Best Game Artwork.
We like their criteria, too:
"The purpose of the awards is to:- Encourage new developments and innovations in the board game industry.
- Promote board and card games to a larger audience
- Award the best games in different categories released each year.
- Present a slate of games with wide appeal from a variety of genres.
- Point out games that are simply fun!"
Here's the full list of 2009 Dice Tower Board Game Award Nominees. We'll let you know when the awards are officially.. awarded.
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May 26, 2009
Middle-earth Quest Details Emerge
This potential gem of a game was official announced by Fantasy Flight Games about 2 weeks ago. At the time we got the original overarching product info, but now Fantasy Flight has started to post preview articles detailing the title. The first steps through the abilities that makeup the each and every force of good:
"Over the coming weeks we will be diving into the world of Middle-earth Quest. Each preview will feature a new facet of this fantastic game. Starting us off, we focus on the attributes of the heroes facing down the schemes of Sauron. Each hero has much to prove, and will be forced to use every trick they can think of to overcome the evil machinations of Sauron."
The article steps through and describes the stats you'll find on the the unit cards in front of you. They sport the standard lot of fantasy themed dork stats like Strength, Wisdom, etc. What's interesting is that they seem to effect the amount of cards you draw, not just dice rolls.
It's obviously still too early to tell if this game will have the lasting appeal of the recent Fantasy Flight titles. So far, though, so good. It also seems the game will come in a large box, but it won't have mind numbing rules since it's targeting a 13+ audience.
Wait, scratch that. While War of the Ring wasn't over the top, it was pretty freakin' complicated, and that targeted a a 12+ audience. Sometimes Fantasy Flight is just flat our crazy. Not that we don't love them.
Middle-earth Quest is slated for release this Fall.
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May 18, 2009
Memoir '44 Bulges East and West
The expandable WWII board game franchise Memoir '44 has built-out the franchise's European theater of operations even further. Following the first Battlemap Expansion Hedgrow Hell, the second Battlemap Expansion Tigers in the Snow / Operation Market Garden [Amazon, Funagain] includes 4 new scenarios, 2 new board layouts, and 6 detailed Tiger Tanks pieces. The major scenarios are balanced for 2-8 players, which makes for some pretty sweet gaming night action.
Those mainstream Western Front fans will get the blundering Operation Market Garden scenario, which tasks allied forces in taking and holding a series of bridges in Holland. Somehow Days of Wonder have managed to squeeze all the Dutch bridges onto one map, which doesn't seem entirely accurate, but it looks like a challenging romp of paratroopers and tank convoys all the same.
Still, Western Europe has been done to death, and we're far more excited with the Eastern Front setup. The late war Russian push against Germany includes some of the most amazing armor battles that are sadly missing from a lot of mainstream WWII games, be they on a computer or a board. The Tigers in the Snow scenario has German troops digging in to resist a Russian advance in the Winter of 1944-45. Of course, digging in instead of retreating was Hitler's crazy idea, a decision that was made under protest by the German field commanders, so their forces are understrength and generally not in a good way.
There is some duality in these two scenarios. In Market Garden the allied forces were lacking the tools to take and secure territory on their surprise paratrooper attack. Meanwhile in the other scenario on the eastern front, the tough roll is rotated to the defender's side, where the German forces are on the brink of desertion and must pull themselves together to ward off a massive attack. This contrast could make for some interesting gaming sessions.
The expansion also includes two scenarios for the standard Memoir '44 set. These other scenarios require only one Memoir '44 box to play. Operation Market Garden and Tigers in the Snow both require Memoir '44 and the Operation Overlord expansion, or two copies of Memoir '44. If you want to use the correct Russian pieces, then you could substitue the Eastern Front Expansion as well.
More information can be found at the official Tigers in the Snow / Market Garden websitee. Memoir '44 Battlemap Expansion 2 is now shipping from Amazon and Funagain Games.
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May 14, 2009
Sauron to Throw Some Smackdown in Middle-earth Quest
Publisher Fantasy Flight Games released the first information about the announced "Middle-earth Quest" adventure game today, expanding upon their suite of Lord of the Rings board game titles. In this latest adaptation of the franchise, players will control three heroes trying to scramble to conceal the truth of the ring during the time it hasn't even left the shire. They'll need help from a lot of the novel's characters, of course, which hasn't quite been detailed yet. Perhaps from character decks and ability cards. Pulling the strings on the other end will be a player controlling the antagonizing forces of dark, attempting to reveal the ring bearer with the powers of Sauron and squash him like the hairy footed ewok he is.
As we hinted at before : details are a bit sparse at this point. We'll keep you apprised of more information as this game begins to take shape. Until then check out the Middie-earth Quest official release announcement.
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