Star Trek Ascendancy – Borg Assimilation (Boardgame)
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Posted on July 10th, 2018 by
Star Trek Ascendancy is a civilization building wargame. Previously only a competitive affair, the Borg Assimilation expansion adds in a Borg race that runs rampant through the galaxy. Players can cooperate to defeat it, or risk being assimilated (and taking over the Borg race themselves.) The expansion now allows a solo play version of the game (win before the Borg takes over) but if more than one player is present the game remains a competitive one (although with a common enemy.)
Memoarr! (Boardgame)
Posted on June 28th, 2018 by
Memory based games are a great equalizer between young and old. Memoarr! starts out like most, with a grid of upside down cards. However, rather than matching pairs of cards, players attempt to create a chain of cards, with each card matching the landscape or animal of the previous one. The result is a memory matching game with just enough spin to mark it different from the others. It becomes more unique when using the advanced rules which has the cards triggering special actions based on the animal on the revealed card.
RPG Minis Update – Spring 2018
Posted on June 26th, 2018 by
WizKids recent Wardlings release is a great line of kid-themed pre-painted miniatures. Each kid-model mini comes with an associated “pet” to add a bit of playfulness to any RPG session. WizKids other mini lines (D&D Icons of the Realms and Pathfinder Battles) keep on truckin’ with a couple jungle themed releases and one that fits in with D&D’s most recent adventure book. While minis aren’t cheap, they can add a bit of flash and excitement to any game night.
E3 2018 Part 3: Classics Both Mini and Mega
Posted on June 22nd, 2018 by
When people at E3 asked what my favorite game I played at the show was, and I replied with “Mega Man 11,” they would say (sometimes rather disappointingly), “Oh, you’re an old-school gamer.” Yeah, well, I may be old school, but I’ve still got it (I just don’t remember where I put it). But being old-school isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as classic games are coming back in big and small ways! I noticed it so much so at E3 that I’ve dedicated my final article of the show to all the classic gaming related stuff I saw!
E3 2018 Part 2: Nintendo Made a Smash, but Didn’t “Win” E3
Posted on June 21st, 2018 by
For the second part of my E3 articles, we’re finally going to talk about Nintendo! But before we get to that, let’s take a look at more game companies I met with at E3, and what games they had! And maybe some random pictures, too.
E3 2018 Part 1: Cary’s Re-Return to E3
Posted on June 20th, 2018 by
The Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short, is one of the biggest trade shows in the video game industry, and I’ve been going to it nearly every year since 1997. Sure I’ve skipped a few years here and there. Like when I didn’t have an outlet to write on for a short while between the newspaper and GamerDad. Or when I just started a new job and didn’t have enough money or vacation time. Or when E3 went through a bit of a downsizing phase and I didn’t feel like it was worth the trip then. But those absences were all my choice. I’ve been able to go nearly every year otherwise. But for the past five years, I was denied a press pass for whatever reason. Yet somehow, this year I was able to get a media pass even though nothing had changed. So last week I went to E3, and here’s some articles about it!
D&D RPG Update: Summer 2018
Posted on June 19th, 2018 by
The popularity of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game continues to gain traction, particularly with the college/young adult set. With the advent of streamers (gamers who put their D&D sessions online, many of the most popular ones made by voice actors and other entertainment professionals) more and more people are being turned onto the hobby. The current edition of D&D (now in its 5th Edition) has gone back to its “roots” making the game play faster and allowing more “theater of the mind” style play. Gamers can still bust out miniatures and terrain (such as those published by WizKids’ Icons of the Realms line) and have their tactical battles, but it is no longer a necessary component of every game night. In tandem with the new edition, Wizards of the Coast has stepped back from releasing supplement after supplement with enough frequency to cause a glut of books for gamers to buy. Instead, they’ve focused on just two or three big releases each year, allowing gamers to stay “current” with all the books without breaking the bank. This past year, they’ve released two big supplements and one big adventure path. The Tomb of Annihilation takes players through a dinosaur-infested jungle adventure, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything greatly expands player options, and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes provides GMs with new background information and more of the higher-level monsters to include in their games.
Free Arcade Gaming at the Airport
Posted on June 14th, 2018 by
I was in an airport terminal in Paris this past week and noticed they had several kiosks scattered about where you could pick up a PS4 controller and play a game while you waited. Each location I saw had two kiosks with three setups suitable for two players each (making a total of 12 possible gamers at one time.) I saw a fighting game, some platformer I didn’t recognize at a distance, and a copy of FIFA 2018 getting a lot of play. That didn’t catch my eye too much until I came across a small arcade with almost a dozen classic coin-operated games available. They were clearly all emulators of some type but they had decent controls and were all free. Details after the jump…
Dragonfire (Boardgame)
Posted on May 24th, 2018 by
The popularity of role playing games has inspired many a designer to capture the multi part story and character progression of a RPG within a boardgame. Dragonfire picks up the theme and story of the current edition of Dungeons and Dragons, a places it into a cooperative, legacy-style deckbuilding card game. Does it work? Unsurprisingly, the game has a bit of a learning curve, but is my favorite game in the genre (legacy co-op card game) so far.
Spirit Island (Boardgame)
Posted on April 17th, 2018 by
Sometimes the whole metaphorical peanut butter and chocolate combination sneaks up on you and surprises you with you didn’t even know you were missing. Spirit Island, the cooperative settler-destruction strategy game is not for the faint of heart, but it distills nearly all my favorite boardgame elements into a single game. Cooperative game? Check. Asymmetric (each player has different powers) Gameplay ? Check. Deckbuilding? Check. Player Development (increase in power during the game?) Check. Simultaneous player decisions? Check. Multiple scenarios or options for play? Double, Triple, & Quadruple Check. Quick to play, easy to learn, a great fit for any crowd?….. well, you can’t have everything. For gamers willing to put up with a bit of a learning curve (really only a game or two), Spirit Island offers a deeply strategic, cooperative game with plenty of variations to explore.
