Plunder For The Cave #3: Even More From My Friendly Local Gaming Store

On top of my recent thrift store purchases, I have also added a couple of items to my gaming collection courtesy of my friendly local gaming store. Not the huge haul that I picked up last time, but still a couple of solid gold additions.

The first new item is Munchkin: Apocalypse, which I didn't even know existed until I spied it in the new arrivals area in-store, which was a real surprise given that I had been surfing the Munchkin website only two days previous and I saw no sign of it. Although I picked it up without hesitation (and indeed the small pack of bonus cards that have been released for it with, quote-unquote "Radioactive Dice"), I am not entirely convinced by my purchase.

Whilst I like the concept of the release, upon flicking through the cards, I am not entirely convinced that Steve Jackson Games have done it true justice. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, and the addition of the "Seven Seals" special rule is a nice touch. I just would have liked to have seen greater variety in the beasties and disasters. I mean, how many different ways can you think of (both natural and otherwise) of the world ending?

Flaming Meteor, The Black Hole Machine, Mega Tsunami, Volcanic Eruptions, Kaiju on the Rampage, Solar Flare, Viral Warfare, Rise of the Machines, Nuclear War, Alien Invasion, Another Ice-Age, Zombies... It's a long list. A long list that isn't particularly well represented. Still, being a Munchkin game, there will without a doubt be expansions, so there is still time for all of this to come into play I guess.

My other purchase was a copy of Castle Panic, which has recently come back into production after what seems like an age of unavailability. I have been seeking a copy of this for a while and have on a couple of occasions been met with the frustration of the expansion being available in-store, but with no chance of being able to order in a copy of the base game. So suffice to say that when I saw this in the new arrivals area, I snapped it up in an instance that The Flash would have missed if he had blinked.

Whilst I am yet to have a read through of the rules, I am already loving this game. The die-cut pieces come pre-punched, and according to what I have flicked through in the rules, the game can be played solo, co-operative or, competitively. That's a sizable achievement for such a small box! I can see this game getting a LOT of table time in the years to come.

Calm Before The Storm

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There's no two ways about it. Blogging wise, the past couple of months have been pretty slow ones.

By and large this is down to real life commitments, but I am hoping that I can start to turn that around. Fast. In the next 72 hours in fact! The thing is that, just because I haven't been able to update here as often as I would have liked, the ideas have still been coming thick and fast. REALLY fast.

I now have a new abstract game on the workbench, along with an independent survival-horror roleplaying game, heavily spurred on by the sterling work that Jerry Teleha has been doing with Stay Alive! On top of that there have been the usual gaming musings, a solo conversion for the Munchkin card game that I think's pretty dapper, my old solo rules for ZOMBIES!!! that I have re-discovered in a pile of print-outs, new plunder for the cave, new thrift store finds. There is a LOT to blog about, and I finally have the time to sit down and do it all justice. :0).

So sit back and relax, there's a storm coming. ;0)

Plunder For The Cave #2: More Goodies!

In addition to the recent purchase of a rather awesome box of Skeleton Warriors, that I am REALLY looking forward to getting up and running, I also picked up a few other goodies worth noting.

There is a lot of sweet terrain to pick through in my local gaming store but, one small pack had caught my eye a few trips back and the purchase of the Skeleton Warriors gave me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to invest in it.

The pack in question contained a staggering 44 assorted gravestones for a meager £8! Throw in a hairy grass mat and that's pretty much a graveyard right there (although I'd like a mausoleum or two as well).

Renedra,who produce these gravestones are the same folks that were able to outfit me with 90 bases for only £5! As far as value to quality ratios go, these folks give you a lot for your money, which is always a good thing and, as far as the actual quality goes, I certainly have no complaints.

On top of all the modeling goodness, I also decided to pick up a copy of the Shadows Over Camelot Card Game by Days of Wonder. As well as the evocative box art, I was also drawn in by the promise that it could be played solitaire.. The fact that my copy came with the free promotional expansion (giving me a couple of extra cards that look like they'll really change the game) also certainly didn't hurt my decision making process in this either.

Although I have only had a chance for a quick flick through the rules, I have to say that I am quite impressed with what I have seen so far. At it's core, it appears to be a fairly basic memory game but, despite the typical Days of Wonder simplicity it actually opens up and encourages (and kinda doesn't work without) fairly deep roleplaying opportunities.

This should be an interesting one to bring to the table but, quite how a game that depends so heavily on roleplay will fair solitaire I really do not know. I sure plan on finding out though, and soon!

Plunder For The Cave #1

Plunder for the cave will be the new catch all title for posts relating to new items that I have added to my gaming collection. Whether that be miniatures, board games, source books or, other miscellaneous gaming goodies.

If the guide at Google has sent you my way and you'd like to know more about what you see in the collection, feel free to post up a comment or a question and, I will get back to you as soon as possible.

New additions this week:

Dungeon Fighter: The time between this catching my eye after walking through the door of my friendly local gaming store and deciding that I HAD to have it would have been missed by The Flash if he'd blinked.

The appeal was instant. A goofy dungeon crawl with a sense of humor bordering on the insane. A game that literally on occasion instructs you to close your eyes and throw your dice between your legs.. Yeah, I had to have it. :0).

Although I think that it is unlikely that this game will see massive amounts of table time with the group, I know that with the right guys, every session will be a blast. The game also offers a solo play option, too so even if it doesn't see too much group play I know that I'll certainly be breaking it out every now and again.

Peryton Fantasy Roleplaying Game: This was another instance of seeing an item and knowing that I had to have it (there's a theme starting to develop here).

The guys over at Peryton Publishing are a great bunch and this really is a fantastic product. So far I have only had the time to give it a quick flick through but, for anyone familiar with D&D 3.5 and the OGL it should be a breeze to run.

From the outset though I can state three things without a doubt.

1: The artwork is sweet!

2: The layout is bang on!

3: There is more here than just your standard OGL product. Much more! 

So, considering what you have here could easily be considered a replacement for the trio of 3.5 manuals, with a more old-school feel, at a fraction of the cost, I cannot recommend you picking up this product more highly. It's a lot of bang for your buck.

Pirate Versus Pirate: Another item that I had been eyeballing for sometime but couldn't decide whether to buy or not was Pirate Versus Pirate by Out of The Box.

I was certainly drawn in by the Kovalic art but in all honesty pirates aren't really my thing. I know a lot of people where the mere mention of pirates alone would have had them running game in hand to the till but, that's just really not me. I much prefer a dungeon crawl (as you may have well guessed by now) and, even when I play sci-fi games there is an underlying crawl element. After all, Space Hulk is little more than a dungeon in space.

All that aside though, I am glad that I bought this game because behind the theme there is a pretty solid strategy game that frankly would work, pirate or no pirate.

The only real problem that I have with the game is the inclusion of dice in a game that encourages and, pretty much relies upon strategic movement. Me being me though, I have thought my way around this one and done away with the dice all together.

So instead of rolling 2D4 for movement each turn, you now simply move a single pirate 5 spaces. This keeps the game balanced but increases the level of strategy involved and, creates a game that plays a lot more like Queen Bee, an abstract strategy favorite of mine. It manages to do this without creating a rule set that moots ownership of both games. Win-win in my books!

A Couple of Reaper Minis: In addition to two new games and a new read, I also picked myself out a couple of new miniatures to indulge myself in my new found love of painting.

So added to the "Going to paint sometime soon" collection I now have Spectre and a Fog Wraith, both by Reaper. Those of you who know me pretty well will no doubt know that I really dig Undead and Demonic miniatures, so the fact that I am really looking forward to painting these shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

That's all the plunder for the plunder that I have to show you for the moment but, I do hope to be adding more soon and, giving each of these items a post to call their own.

Links

Dungeon Fighter by Cranio Creations.
Peryton Fantasy Roleplaying Game by Peryton Publishing.
Pirate Versus Pirate by Out Of The Box.
Reaper.