Archive For The “Features” Category
Avery Abernethy, 17 March 2019
MACE West was held on a cold, rainy March 1-3 in Asheville, NC at a Hilton hotel very close to the entrance of Biltmore House. MACE West is a small tabletop and RPG convention. Other than a small number of dealers scattered in hallways and in one small room, it was all gaming. (more…)
Jim Owczarski, 7 March 2019
It seems like a lifetime ago — admittedly it was 1993, which for some reading this is a lifetime — that Richard Borg released “Siege of the Citadel”, his mass-market introduction to the world of the Mutant Chronicles. The latter was ever an attempt to knock Games Workshop’s Warhammer: 40,000 from its perch atop the world of ultra-violent future dystopia tabletop skirmish gaming.
Coming as it did on the heels of the mass market success of “HeroQuest”, however, “Siege of the Citadel” shipped laden with toys: a shovel-load of decently-sculpted plastic miniatures, bright plastic game components, and even a garish cardboard and plastic citadel over which the sides could fight. Players led teams of elite commandos, each team typed after one of the human nations which had taken over a planet in our solar system, against an army of demons. Gameplay was simple and moved very quickly. I fell so hard for the system, and was so disgusted by the changes being made to WH:40K, that I eventually bought three copies of the boardgame just to have the figures. (more…)
Michael Eckenfels, 5 January 2018
PART 4: TURN 1 ADVENTURE PHASE (ZHUKOV); TURN 1 VILLAIN PHASE
When we last left off, our Soviet Hero Doctor Zhukov was about to partake of the dangers of the Mine of Lost Souls, an 8 Fortune Temple located in Greece. He’s just finished off the last Nazi Henchman, though the evil Herr Teufel has disappeared into the ruins, spitting Teutonic witticisms in his wake. Zhukov has little choice but to proceed, as leaving the Mine to Herr Teufel is out of the question!
Doctor Zhukov has to pass a Danger, and for each Danger, he gets one Fortune – that means there’s eight Dangers to pass to clear the Temple. If he draws the last Fortune, he gets the Temple piece, which counts as a 3 Fortune Artifact in and of itself. There’s a lot of moolah to be made here, but a lot of Danger to overcome. And oh yes, did I not mention that Temples can collapse, too? Fun!
Michael Eckenfels, 5 January 2018
PART 3: TURN 1 ADVENTURE PHASE
When we last left our Heroes, two of them were bound to slow-moving transports taking them basically nowhere for the turn. Unfortunately, this is both Grant and Nigel, whom spend this Phase doing nothing but waiting for time to pass.
We have Doctor Zhukov (MASSTEERRRR OF SCIIIIIENNNCEE) who’s about to go toe-to-toe with some dirty Nazi scum in an ancient Greek Temple, and in Siberia, Li Mei is about to dive into a dangerous adventure to find The Jar of Hades. We’ll start with Li Mei, as the combat in Greece might get a little messy for our Bolshevik scientist.
The Jar of Hades has a Danger of 4, which means Li Mei has to pass four Dangers in order to claim the Artifact.
Brant Guillory, 1 January 2019
In a tradition carried on from past lives, we’ve reached out to some friends in the gaming world, and asked a pair of questions about the year in gaming.
What was your best game-playing memory, moment, or experience over the past year, and what made it so great?
Part 2 today, to close out 2018, and part 1 yesterday.
Peter Bogdasarian – Wargame designer
Best gaming moment was probably committing the Imperial Guard in Pub Battles: Waterloo and having them shatter the Allied left so I could roll up Wellington’s army. Just found it very satisfying to see them strike such a decisive blow.
Best gaming experience was completing our campaign of Gloomhaven. I thought Cephalofair delivered the most polished RPG experience I have ever received from a tabletop game.
Jim Owczarski – Dragoon!
I am almost offended you would ask: the 1824 Kriegsspiel, as modified by Dr. James Sterrett, as played at the Wargame HQ at ORIGINS 2018. Seeing that many people excited about my favorite activity, much less game, was very special.
Close runner-up was starting up the 1809 Vol de L’Aigle operational Kriegsspiel currently running on the Armchair Dragoons forum.
Brant Guillory, 31 December 2018
In a tradition carried on from past lives, we’ve reached out to some friends in the gaming world, and asked a pair of questions about the year in gaming. Part 1 today, to close out 2018, and part 2 tomorrow.
What do you think was the biggest news story in the hobby gaming world over the past year, and why?
Byron Salahor – Dragoon!
Since I am reluctant to quote a single, definitive article, my vote for the biggest news story in the gaming world continues to be the ever-increasing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons. Over the last couple of years, this hallmark role-playing game has increasingly showed up in the oddest of places – like popular mainstream media. TV personalities (hullo Stephen!) discuss the game on late-night talk shows; respectable newspapers feature articles on how this odd, niche fantasy game is (surprise!) bringing people together, creating community, or is being used in the classroom. Local libraries are running D&D game nights; my local FLGS reports having sold “dozens” of starter kits in the run-up to Christmas, and an FLGS in a neighboring province stated on their social media feed that they just sold their 2000th copy of the 5th edition Player’s Handbook. While D&D will probably never become as popular as Risk, or Catan, or Monopoly, it is – in this gamer’s opinion – very heartening to see how a game that encourages imagination, cooperation, and story-telling has meaning and value in an age of electronic amusements.
Jeff Tidball – Game designer and GAMA board member
I think that it’s a bit unsung at the moment, and we’re only looking at the beginning of it, but I think that Tabletop Wire’s founding, and their ramp-up of legit daily journalism about the business side of the tabletop gaming hobby, has been really exciting this year. There’s simply no other place that’s doing that kind of work, and it’s been a real need for the business (in my opinion) for a long time.