First Look: Mag Blast

As I mentioned only two post ago, Mag Blast, which I purchased less than 24
hours ago has already seen table time, and poor pun wholly intended we've had a blast with it.

It's light, fast-paced and, win or lose highly enjoyable. It's a perfect filler game, with only one major drawback that we have found so far. Your initial draw can make or break your game, with two of the three that we played yesterday lasting all of five minutes from start to finish.

So we've house ruled our way around this by introducing a mulligan style mechanic:

House Rule

If you are not happy with your initial draw of 6 Fleet cards you may shuffle them into the Fleet deck and draw 5 replacements, of which

you must choose 4 for your initial set-up.

If this still doesn't work out for you, you could theoretically drop down to 4 cards using the same method but, no more than that and even then you are really pushing your luck. That really does seem to be the name of the game though, luck.

You have to be lucky with the initial fleet that you draw, you have to be lucky with the action cards that you draw and, if you want to cause catastrophic damage, you have to be REALLY lucky! This isn't such a bad thing though (particularly in the case of the latter).

When I initially looked over the cards prior to the rules I was a little concerned just how easy it seemed to blow a ship out of the sky instantly, which can end a game just like that.

This was however an error as it's actually very difficult to achieve a "critical hit" along those lines as you need at least three cards to pull it off and, you only draw up to five every turn (unless you draw something that lets you draw more) at the most. There are still plenty of devastating attacks that you can throw out there though, for example the name-sake Mag Blast, which will happily take out the majority of fleet ships.

Overall, play is of the fast and furious variety, so if a fast-paced space skirmish sounds up your street you can't go far wrong with Mag Blast. If you're looking for deep strategy though, this really isn't going to be the game for you.

First Look: The Wizard's Tower

It's here! It's here! It's finally here!!

After a long wait for it to come back into print, The Wizard's Tower expansion for Castle Panic is available once again.

But was it worth the wait?

From an initial look over the box contents, I'm going to go with a resounding yes. In fact, it's better than I expected! Initially I was hoping for maybe a few new monsters and, I knew that the inclusion of the spell cards would add another dimension to the way that the game played but a brief read through of the rulebook reveals that they have done much, MUCH more.

The strategy is a lot deeper once you add the expansion, you get to make more meaningful decisions and, the introduction of immunities and "mega boss" monsters really takes the whole experience to a new level. Well, I assume it will but, I'm yet to give it a whirl.

I'm also impressed that the aesthetics of the game have remained just as appealing with the expansion too, as the look of the original game was a large part of it's appeal.

Really looking forward to breaking this one out. :0).

First Look: Boldly Going To The Sorting Office

Well, it seems I have been through hell and high water, even as far as the local postal sorting office (which isn't that local) but it's finally here. After what I think is probably close to a year, I finally have a copy of the Star Trek Heroclix Tactics Starter to call my very own.

Was it worth the wait, and the walk? Definitely.

It's been a while since I played any clix game and, honestly, Horrorclix was always more my thing. The moment I heard that this product was hitting the shelves though, I knew that I'd be picking one up. It's just taken a while.

Still, I have a copy now at least. :0). More to come on this one in the future.

First Look: Castle Panic

Well, the time is almost upon me and the green skins are gathering amidst the trees. Thinking we cannot see them as we hurry our work upon the bastions along. The Panic will soon be upon us.

By which I mean that all being well, either tonight or tomorrow I will be taking my first shot at the tower defense come board game, Castle Panic. Carrying on the theme of firsts, I wanted to share my first impressions of the game with you all before even the first card is drawn.

As you have probably guessed from my previous posts, I LOVE the look of this game, and I had very high expectations of what was to come from the word go. Expectations that I can fairly say have been delivered upon from the moment I cracked open the box.

Unlike a lot of modern games that come with die-cut card components, the pieces in Castle Panic come pre-punched. Which is a big plus for me, as I have lost track of the countless hours (literally in the case of Descent 1st Edition) that I have lost popping games from their sprues before I could even entertain the idea of sitting down to look over the rule book. By which point I have usually given up the ghost and shelved the game for another day.

Looking over the interior of the box, I also notice that ample space has been left around the compartment designed for holding the games cards, so that if you wanted to protect them with card sleeves, you could and they'd still happily fit back in the box. That said, if you can't be bothered the space isn't so large that components are going to rattle around loose. That's good design!

All in all, I have to say that I think the folks over at Fireside Games have done a cracking job, with the only fall down points in the whole game being some of the simple typographical errors that have been overlooked, one of which can really mess with game balance if you happen to read it wrong. Which is a shame.

The error in question comes from the "Brick" and the "Mortar" cards, that both instruct you that if you have the other, you may play them both and build a wall. As the text is written however, it suggests that each card allows you to build a wall, instead of the two cards only giving you one wall. A small error but a significant one. The rules do clear this up but I still thought it was worth mentioning.

So there we have it. My first impressions are good, going on great. How will it all play out? Well there's only one way to find out!

Play Report: Dominion - Intrigue

Life can be a balancing act at the best of times and, I sometimes think that the life of gamer is far more hectic than most, with the only folks that juggle more tasks we do being CEO's and parents.. And I'm really not sure about the CEO's.

So between my various projects, new games coming in, new games coming out, following blogs, writing a blog and, the various other gaming pots I have on the boil, I haven't got around to too much actual gaming of late. So when I got an invite in on a shop demo of Dominion and Dominion: Intrigue (that is, me demonstrating the game with a few other folks to the public at large) at my local friendly gaming store I jumped on the opportunity.

It was a chance to game and, writing it up would make for a great post. ;0).

Perfect.

All-in-all and, due to a late start, we managed to get three games in and boy was there ever contrast between them.

The first game was played with the base game and the base set-up that includes the Witch, which played a large part in the game. Of all of the players around the table, I was the only one not to invest in a Witch card, instead opting for Villages and Laboratories to play a my usual strategy of a fast cycling deck.

This did bite me more than once but luckily the one Chapel I took came around often enough to dump a lot of the Curses from my deck, so with my opponents going Witch heavy (cards which become far less useful once the Curse cards are depleted), I would say that "speed cycling" was definitely the way to go. I also picked up a lone Thief that I managed to bring to bare often with my build that I found to be quite useful.

The end result of the first game was a victory for me, which frankly I was surprised at but, hey, I'm not complaining. Mostly because I'd need to save all the moaning I could muster for the next match and, I wasn't alone.

The second game was a completely random draw from the base box and, honestly couldn't have been much worse!

The problem arose from having the Chapel in play as the only option that could be purchased for 2 but, no Witch. So it was pretty much useless. This was exacerbated by the fact that too many players went Thief heavy too quickly, leaving a couple of players (myself included) with only 4 Copper in our deck on more than one occasion.

The situation was best summed up by a friend at the table as being "A War of Attrition", and he couldn't have been more right. The game crawled along at best, with no player really making any headway. It sucked.

It sucked big time!

Thankfully though, our third game was a massive redemption. With one of our new players having just purchased a copy of Intrigue (how's that for the effectiveness of shop demos) and, wanting to break it open, we happily switched sets, giving me my first look inside the box.

Combining my initial impressions from the first game I have played of Intrigue with my experience as a Dominion player, I honestly have to say that given a choice between purchasing the two, I would take Intrigue any day of the week!

In fact, if I came to play the standard set after playing Intrigue I would be quite disappointed. That's the magnitude of the difference between the two sets.

It's hard to pin down but, I think what makes the difference is that Intrigue has a lot more going on. It is the first set that I have played that contains split victory cards. So, no longer do green cards simply block up your hand. Now they offer, Treasure, Actions and, the ability to draw more cards. Sometimes several of these!

Some of the cards included also offer greater strategic depth too, such as Ironworks. You can use it to take any card up to value 4 but, depending on the type of card you take, the Ironworks will have a different knock-on effect. For example, if you take a Treasure card, it gives you an additional 1 to spend on a buy this turn. Other options offer you additional cards or Actions and, considering that some of the cards out there now, like the Great Hall are both Actions and Victory cards, you can trigger multiple effects at once.

So, as you can see, there is a lot going on and, if you can buy only one copy of Dominion, I'd make it Intrigue.

First Look: Dungeon! (2012)

One of the releases that I have been most hotly awaiting this year since first learning of it is Dungeon!

Originally a TSR classic I have to admit that I was a little concerned when I heard that Wizards would be re-releasing it. As much as I wanted this game to be passed on to the next generation, I didn't want it to become something it wasn't and, considering the party involved, I had dreaded the possibility that they may just gut the mechanics and try to run everything off of a D20.

So, last night when I finally managed to download the new rulebook you can imagine my relief to find the game virtually untouched from the original, apart from a few cosmetic changes.

Wizards have now done away with the original classes and instead replaced them with their own archetypes. So now instead of playing as an Elf, you play as a Halfling Rogue. Your goal of 10,000 GP is still the same. All they did was change the name.

Apart from changing the names of the heroes, I also notice that the names of a lot of the monsters seem to have changed too. Bringing them more into line with the Dungeons and Dragons universe. Which I think is a bit of a shame but inevitable. I won't judge yet though. Not until I can actually sit down with a copy and see just how deep these changes run.

What I will cast judgment on however is the new art that they've commissioned for this release. It's horrible!

Not in the sense that the artists lack talent, as they obviously exude it but, to depict the "Silver Cup" as being akin to an old tin mug, when the original depicted it as a jewel encrusted chalice really serves to sell the product short in my opinion. It also seems to show a lack of product knowledge.

Dungeon! is a game of delving dark and dangerous depths in a world of high fantasy, so treasure should leave you feeling "Whooooo!" and not "Ah".

For example when Fantasy Flight re-released Dungeonquest, they didn't fill the box with mediocrity. Every treasure in the dragons hoard (well except the lode stones) was a wondrous and vibrant depiction of something that made the journey worthwhile. Not a bland piece of stock loot to toss in the pack with the rest.

So, I may have some misgivings based on what I've seen so far but not enough to put me off picking up a copy, even though I already own an original copy. At the price of $19.99 it's frankly a steal and, there's no way I am going to pass it up.

Diablo Day: A Ground Breaking D&D Release... That You've Probably Never Heard Of

Fast-Play Goodness

Diablo II is arguably one of the greatest PC titles ever to be coded and, Dungeons and Dragons the best know roleplaying game ever to be written. So what do you get when you cross these two leviathans of their respective fields and give it away for free?

Yet another gem doomed to relative obscurity it would seem.

This is probably in no small part due to the sheer volume of roleplaying products now available freely on the Internet. It's very easy for such a small release, even of such a major brand, to get lost in the crowd and, Wizards did very little to prevent this.

It's a shame really as this is not only a nice little standalone product but, also a bit of a Pandora's Box...

Despite being clearly advertised as a "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game" product on the front cover, there's not a funny shaped dice in sight. Now a Dungeons and Dragons product running purely on D6 is nothing short of an oddity in itself (especially in this D20 day and age) but, a little further investigation uncovers something that can only be described as epic!

When compared to the other Diablo / Dungeons and Dragons crossover products available, it becomes clear quite quickly that the fast play rules have been cut from the same pattern as the small Diablo II boxed set, which in turn was based upon AD&D 2nd edition.

So what you have here is more than just a freebie. It's a completely new take on the D&D system from Wizards themselves! In my opinion this is nothing short of ground breaking and, certainly deserving of more attention than it has received, Diablo or no Diablo.

What makes this discovery so important however has to be the timing.

This whole system uses AD&D 2nd edition as a foundation and, AD&D has just been re-released! In real terms this means that there is likely to be a massive nostalgic surge in the number of AD&D players out there. One that Wizards is unlikely to miss cashing in on.

So we should certainly expect more products in the range and, probable re-releases of many of the classics. All of which can be easily converted for play with the "Dungeons and Dragons Adventure Game"... Which really needs re-branding, renaming  and, knocking into production.

Stay tuned into Diablo Day as we continue our exploration of this forgotten system and I answer what seems to be the most popular forum request surrounding it.

More monsters!

Links

Download your free copy of the Diablo II Fast Play RPG

On The Cards: Sunday 29th July

Well, the week of the troll was a resounding success and, I feel that this blog is going from strength to strength.

Not only are we getting more views but, I'm also getting more organized. Work may still interfere (doesn't it always) with what I have planned for posting next week but, here's what I have in store for you all so far...

Tuesday: Diablo Day

A first look at the pencil and paper Diablo II roleplaying game freely available from Wizards of the Coast, comparing it to the other "pay to play" versions out there and, some of my own observations that will allow you to take it further without spending a dime.

I have seen a great deal of call for this in various forums, so I will be sharing my conversion notes in brief.

As a teaser however, I will say that given that the Diablo II fast play game was based upon the AD&D 2nd Edition release of the rules, the conversion notes make it perfectly possible to play the latter with only D6. Yup, that's right, D&D with nothing more than D6!

Also throughout the day I will be throwing in a few Diablo related Alchemy Bytes.

Thursday: Talisman Thursday

I've been finding myself more and more drawn towards Talisman of late, so Talisman Thursday will be more about my exploration of the game, than the game itself.

I'll be taking a look at the revised 4th Edition characters in the base game to see just how well they fare, exploring sources for new potential characters and, taking a gander at the rumors surrounding Relic.

Friday: Fluxx Friday

Amazingly the other night I actually met not one but, two people that were unable to wrap their heads around the concept of Fluxx, arguably one of the easiest games to learn (well beyond Tic-Tac-Toe) in the world!

As a result I will be posting up a short quickstart guide, along with a short post about customizing your game. I might even post up the "Plain English is Ambiguous" variant that the folks I ran into seemed to like to play with.

First Look: Claustrophobia

From the moment I saw this game I knew I wanted it. Nay, had to have it. Quite why I was so drawn to it initially has long since been lost to the mists of time but, it's a firm possibility that the combination of dark and brooding box art combined with a setting literally bursting with demons had a lot to do with it.

With all my personal hype though, was I left disappointed? Honestly, slightly. Not in any way that can't be easily rectified however.

All of the components are of good quality, the rulebook is well laid out and easy to follow but, where it falls short for me is with the scenarios that are included. Although they link together to form a nice campaign, there is little replay value and the demons come across as two-dimensional mooks to be smashed around the tunnels without mercy by the heroes.

The game does go a long way to try and address this though, through the use of the "Destiny Board". Allowing the demon player to customize their horde from turn-to-turn. This can only help so far however, as using the same board from game-to-game will still leave you with very similar feeling match-ups.

A simple solution to this would be to have a chart per scenario instead of using the same board over and over again, which brings me nicely onto my other bone of contention. The big bad demon.

This is again another area that I feel that Asmodee has left wanting, with the big bads being only slightly less card stock than their minions. Being more accustomed to games like Space Hulk I expect big nasty monsters to pack more punch and, come with more bells and whistles than they do in Claustrophobia.

Being such a rules light game however it's easy to look past this and the Destiny Board issue because if you don't like it, you can easily change it. This for me has to be the crowning achievement of Claustrophobia.

Much like my favorite roleplaying game, Tunnels and Trolls, Claustrophobia takes customization well. In fact, it almost begs for it. If you have other miniatures lying around (personally I will be looting my copy of Doom) integrating them should be a cinch. Big bads can also be tweaked and, writing your own scenarios and campaigns really allows you to make the game your own.

In conclusion this is certainly a game that I expect to be playing a lot of in the future and, one that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants a game that they can tweak. It's not big and, it's not deep but, there is almost infinite potential for expansion.

Links

Claustrophobia Board Game Geek Entry

On The Cards: Monday 16th July

On the cards is going to be my weekly news bulletin that that I hope to be posting up every Monday, showcasing the posts and topics I want to be covering in the coming week.

It's by no means a "to do" list (well until I get more organized at any rate) but, if you see something in the post that you like drop me a comment and i'll try and get it out a little quicker.

On the cards this week:

Quickstart: Mijnlieff
Play Report: Mjinlieff
First Look: Claustrophobia
Review: Fluxx

There are also a couple of other items that may get posted up that I have in the works if time permits (First Look: Project Pandora, First Look: Diablo II Fast Play Edition, Homebrew: Expanding Diablo II Fast Play) but, as this week is already set to be commitment heavy (lots of odd hours at work) these may have to go on the back burner for a week or two.