Hey Everybody... just wanted to touch base and let everyone know that I am currently working on getting our store completely revamped with better images, up to date pricing and more over completed links to additional information for all products!
I am also trying to get my session notes together from this past weekend and for those of you that checked our ConCalendar, you'll see that we are gearing up for StellarCon as well!! Lots to do, and little time to do it! So, wish me luck and stay tuned!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Preliminary Weekend Gaming Report!
So, just to be on top of things, here is a list of the games I've played so far this weekend and my rating:
Stay Tuned!
- 7 Wonders
- 2nd Place out of 6 (Lost by 1 point)
- 9/10
- Hey! That's My Fish! (6x)
- Won 3, Finished 2nd in 3
- 8/10 (Baden's Rating 10/10)
- Dominion
- Lost by 1 point, 2 player game
- 9.5/10
- Thunderstone
- Won
- 9/10
- The Golden City
- Won with a Tie Breaker (62pts)
- 8/10, want to play again... seems to be great "Gateway Game"
- Tobago
- Won! Me 52, Zach 9, Braydon 9, Debbie 13
- 8/10
- Forbidden Island
- Group Loss
- Pandemic Lite / 8/10, want to replay!!
Stay Tuned!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Dominion: Cornucopia Expansion (Pre-Order)
Attention Dominion Fans/Junkies!
The newest Dominion Expansion: Cornucopia is scheduled for release in April!
I will be taking Pre-Orders for the next month, so be sure to drop me a line or head over to our store and go ahead and buy your copy to ensure you don't miss out on the newest hotness from Dominion!
The newest Dominion Expansion: Cornucopia is scheduled for release in April!
I will be taking Pre-Orders for the next month, so be sure to drop me a line or head over to our store and go ahead and buy your copy to ensure you don't miss out on the newest hotness from Dominion!
BGG Info: Dominion: Cornucopia
Paranoia & Fiasco RPGs (More Birthday Gaming)
PARANOIA
So following my adventures with John B. on Tuesday (2/22/11), I also hosted my D&D group at my place for some role playing! Our usual D&D campaign is on hold due to member's schedules, so in the meantime our DM/GM decided to try out some other games on us. I think that statement of trying games out on us is uber-appropriate with regard to Paranoia.
The game, which is a giant case of fuck your neighbor, was started with minimal introduction to the system or the overall feel of the "world". So all of us being new to the game and role playing in general, fumbled and stumbled at every turn. But, we made it fun by god! We made the most off color and outlandish choices possible just to get a laugh! I know our DM was having a field day trying to keep us on point, but we didn't care... if he was gonna stick us in this game we were gonna have a blast.
I can't fairly rate this game at this time, nor can I explain the system or dynamics to you as I am still about 98% confused myself, which feels correct given the brief explanation we received for the game. I'm truly on the fence about this one... I like my D&D game where I know clearly my objective and I can quickly reference a character sheet and find everything I need to know about my guy and his gear. But, I do think the game has tremendous potential and I know plenty of people that love the game. I did especially enjoy the part where the four troubleshooters are pulling guns on each other and after taking a shot to the head and having my hand chopped off, I wound up with 3 clones to their single characters! Needless to say it got ugly from there! So, we'll see if it grows on us, and I hope it does!
The other game we tried out was a game I had picked up and read through... Fiasco! Fiasco is best described as a Coen Brother's Movie in RPG form. The game is light on mechanics and heavy on storytelling, which for me is just awesome. I have taken improv classes and always been a huge fan of creative writing, so this game is a perfect outlet for that. I will have to give much love and respect to Danny and Sam, who stayed late with me and indulged me in this game for my Birthday!
So, Fiasco... this game uses a set of d6s for each player 2 white and 2 black, each player tosses his die into the center of the table and from there you go around and pick a single die, using it's number to added an element to the relationships of himself or another set of players. After all the die are gone you should have you should have some nice guidelines for how everyone is connected and the needs of the people in the game. From there all the die are returned to the center and you start going around the table and either setting up your story or resolving it, with the rest of the group handling the counter-part. Halfway, through the dice pool you get to the "Tilt" which is where shit hits the fan! The two players with the best outcomes from there collected dies, pick two Tilt elements to add to the center of the table and then play continues.
Now, someone has to man up and take on a tilt element and just send his character into the fire. :) Once, all the die and Tilt elements are taken and played you roll up your dice and based on your outcome find out what happens to your characters. From there you do my favorite part, the montage! The montage is where you use the outcome and the dice you've collected to wrap things up. You pick up a dice and say, "This is _______, insert proper horrific scene..." and everyone does this in order one die at a time until you have finished out the game!
So, in short we all had a blast playing it and I think I speak for everyone when I say round two can't get here soon enough! Ok, I hope all that makes sense to you guys, but trust me it's great... and if you don't trust me, then how about Wil Wheaton??
So following my adventures with John B. on Tuesday (2/22/11), I also hosted my D&D group at my place for some role playing! Our usual D&D campaign is on hold due to member's schedules, so in the meantime our DM/GM decided to try out some other games on us. I think that statement of trying games out on us is uber-appropriate with regard to Paranoia.
The game, which is a giant case of fuck your neighbor, was started with minimal introduction to the system or the overall feel of the "world". So all of us being new to the game and role playing in general, fumbled and stumbled at every turn. But, we made it fun by god! We made the most off color and outlandish choices possible just to get a laugh! I know our DM was having a field day trying to keep us on point, but we didn't care... if he was gonna stick us in this game we were gonna have a blast.
I can't fairly rate this game at this time, nor can I explain the system or dynamics to you as I am still about 98% confused myself, which feels correct given the brief explanation we received for the game. I'm truly on the fence about this one... I like my D&D game where I know clearly my objective and I can quickly reference a character sheet and find everything I need to know about my guy and his gear. But, I do think the game has tremendous potential and I know plenty of people that love the game. I did especially enjoy the part where the four troubleshooters are pulling guns on each other and after taking a shot to the head and having my hand chopped off, I wound up with 3 clones to their single characters! Needless to say it got ugly from there! So, we'll see if it grows on us, and I hope it does!
The other game we tried out was a game I had picked up and read through... Fiasco! Fiasco is best described as a Coen Brother's Movie in RPG form. The game is light on mechanics and heavy on storytelling, which for me is just awesome. I have taken improv classes and always been a huge fan of creative writing, so this game is a perfect outlet for that. I will have to give much love and respect to Danny and Sam, who stayed late with me and indulged me in this game for my Birthday!
So, Fiasco... this game uses a set of d6s for each player 2 white and 2 black, each player tosses his die into the center of the table and from there you go around and pick a single die, using it's number to added an element to the relationships of himself or another set of players. After all the die are gone you should have you should have some nice guidelines for how everyone is connected and the needs of the people in the game. From there all the die are returned to the center and you start going around the table and either setting up your story or resolving it, with the rest of the group handling the counter-part. Halfway, through the dice pool you get to the "Tilt" which is where shit hits the fan! The two players with the best outcomes from there collected dies, pick two Tilt elements to add to the center of the table and then play continues.
Now, someone has to man up and take on a tilt element and just send his character into the fire. :) Once, all the die and Tilt elements are taken and played you roll up your dice and based on your outcome find out what happens to your characters. From there you do my favorite part, the montage! The montage is where you use the outcome and the dice you've collected to wrap things up. You pick up a dice and say, "This is _______, insert proper horrific scene..." and everyone does this in order one die at a time until you have finished out the game!
So, in short we all had a blast playing it and I think I speak for everyone when I say round two can't get here soon enough! Ok, I hope all that makes sense to you guys, but trust me it's great... and if you don't trust me, then how about Wil Wheaton??
He talks briefly about Fiasco when he is asked about what he has been playing.
RPGG info: Fiasco
RPGG info: Paranoia
HeroClix Tournament (GSX March 19th, 2011)
Attention HeroClix Players!!!
Giant Sized X-Men Release Tournament (w/ Prize Support)
presented by: The Card Board Stash!
On Saturday March 19th, 2011
Noon - 6pm
@ Upper Crust Pizza
We invite you all to come out and enjoy some great Clix game play with fellow players from the area!
This event is open to anyone that would like to come out and join, must provide your own figures.
Cost of entry is the purchase of 1 Standard Booster ($10.50 with tax, MSRP $11.99)
Judges will be present to moderate game play and award prizes
Additionally, All HeroClix Products will be on sale at a discounted rate:
Standard Booster: $10.50
Giant Sized Booster: $22.00
Brick (8 Standard & 1 Giant): $105.00
Upper Crust Pizza
1816 Silas Creek Parkway
Winston-Salem, NC 27103
War Machines! (Birthday Gaming!)
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| Brace Yourself Fool!! |
Today, I got to experience the game in a more in depth manner with full use of rules and against an opponent that not only was teaching, but also trying to win. John was running a Khador army which are heavy hitters, while I was manning the Protectorate army which focuses more on ranged combat and faster assaults with the lighter warjacks (steam powered Mechs.) The goal of the game is to kill your opponents caster or controller, they are the ones that typically have the most abilities and feats but, with the drawback of being weak and in need of near constant defense. I'd have to say that John had an early advantage by rushing in on my guys and essentially backing us into a corner. However, I did manage to keep him at bay for a bit with a Fire Wall, and pulled a sweet move that took out 3 of his guys in one round!
Not to shabby for a first time with no real strategy or working knowledge of my army to speak of. But, ultimately I took the gamble of moving my Caster into the line of fire of a big bad Jack, and when I failed to kill him got my face beat in! But, hey... you win some, you lose some and if your lucky you have fun either way! Again, I think this game is solid and has tremendous depth when you look at all the abilities and feats these armies have available to them. I am eagerly awaiting my next chance to play and hopefully Win! Not a bad way to start off year #28!
BGG Info: WarMachine
Additionally, I managed to get in 2 new RPGs for my Birthday as well, Paranoia and Fiasco... stay tuned for entries regarding them as well! :)
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| The Dice represent my Wall of Fire! |
Monday, February 21, 2011
Weekend Gaming Report!
Well, it was a slow weekend around the gaming table, but for lack of quantity we certainly made up for it with quality! I won't go so far as to say the the game we played was the best game ever, but it was very fun and when we finished the first game we unanimously agreed to go again... always a good sign!
"So, what did you play?" You must be asking... Formula D, by Asomdee is the game in question. Now, this might have been anti-climactic for you hardcore gamers, but for me the true Win, was that my 8 year old son ate it up! He couldn't get enough and asked to play off and on all weekend. We only dabbled with the basic rules, but I have promised Baden (my son) that we will play this coming week with the advanced rules. I love the time I get to spend gaming with him, and this game truly brought out his inner gamer. He was focused and out for blood, which is a true mark of a future hardcore gamer.
But, I'm going to keep this update short and say that we played around 6-7 games over the weekend with a variety of winners and several dramatic turns involving players blowing up their cars (myself included). The game play is solid and easily memorized, and as for the components... top notch! The board is huge with great artwork and the cars, while tiny are nicely done. So, I give the game a solid 8.5, and Baden says it's an 11 (even after I explained that the scale maxes out at 10).
BGG Info for Formual D!
Hopefully, this coming weeks gaming will include a report on my first experiences playing the RPG Paranoia and if I'm lucky Fiasco!
"So, what did you play?" You must be asking... Formula D, by Asomdee is the game in question. Now, this might have been anti-climactic for you hardcore gamers, but for me the true Win, was that my 8 year old son ate it up! He couldn't get enough and asked to play off and on all weekend. We only dabbled with the basic rules, but I have promised Baden (my son) that we will play this coming week with the advanced rules. I love the time I get to spend gaming with him, and this game truly brought out his inner gamer. He was focused and out for blood, which is a true mark of a future hardcore gamer.
But, I'm going to keep this update short and say that we played around 6-7 games over the weekend with a variety of winners and several dramatic turns involving players blowing up their cars (myself included). The game play is solid and easily memorized, and as for the components... top notch! The board is huge with great artwork and the cars, while tiny are nicely done. So, I give the game a solid 8.5, and Baden says it's an 11 (even after I explained that the scale maxes out at 10).
BGG Info for Formual D!
Hopefully, this coming weeks gaming will include a report on my first experiences playing the RPG Paranoia and if I'm lucky Fiasco!
Friday, February 18, 2011
"That Guy"
So, I wanna take a minute to identify a personality type that I am seeing more and more frequently... "That Guy"! Ok, "That Guy" is the person that during a conversation, game or on rare occasion out of the complete blue will completly unload his thoughts on you about a particular topic. Most commonly in gaming you see this with uber-fanboys, that eat, sleep and breathe a certain interest. While I can stereotype and say that they are generally unkempt and sporting articles of clothing in homage to their passion, this is hugely inaccurate. And there in lies the greatest power of "That Guy"... The sneak attack!
So, your playing a game and boom like a pressure sensitive mine he is triggered and now he is in a tirade about his random passion, and your stuck! At this point your only options are to become an asshole and tell this guy to shut up, politely ignore him and hate the next few hours of your life or fake a call/medical condition/natural disaster! These mental patients don't just stop at telling you what they like, but rather outline the known history of the topic and the begin to brow beat you for your lack of knowledge / interest! Conventions are perhaps the worst place for being the victim of a sneak attack, especially if you are trying to sell merchandise. This puts you in a position to engage every passer by to attempt to illicit a new sale. Then all of the sudden it happens... you have a guy that has lit up like rocket shooting for the stars and he is locked on you! He begins by ignoring the rules of personal space and hovers centimeters in front of your face telling you about his collection of gaming books that he has re-covered in human flesh and had signed in blood by Gary Gygax. He is quizzing you to see if you are his topical equal or the other almost 99.9% that is inferior and in his eyes ignorant to good things. Now he'll start to tell you the history you could care less about, and then explain how everything you think is good sucks by comparison. He'll break out items from his random he's concealed God knows where and he'll try and show you each and every part of it until you swear eternal allegence to his obsession.
God forbid anyone else try to jump in and save you. He'll just sit there quietly stroking his dice bag waiting to jump back on you, or if you need to leave he'll follow you even to placesa you consider normally out of bounds. I had a guy follow me to the bathroom one time and continue his lecture while I did my business!
So, this is terrible, right... but what is the proper etiquette?? Even more so what about the different approaches from a convention setting to a local game group? I'm not sure but I'm going to attempt to chronical my encounters with "That Guy" for educational and recreational purposes!
New Games Arriving Friday (2/18/11)
So, for those of you who haven't seen the "Shop Our Store" tab at the top of the page go check it out! We are constantly adding new and exciting games to our stocked inventory! That being said, let me list a few of our new additions arriving tomorrow!
Stay tuned for more great titles to come and if you would like a game we don't already carry, please e-mail us and let us know what you want and we'll happily add it to our next order at no additional cost!
- GoSu
- Ticket to Ride: The Alvin & Dexter Expansion
- Forbidden Island
- Pirate Fluxx
- Lords of Vegas
- Automobile
- Train of Thought
- Glen More (See My Session Notes)
- D&D Wrath of Ashardalon
- Factory Fun
Stay tuned for more great titles to come and if you would like a game we don't already carry, please e-mail us and let us know what you want and we'll happily add it to our next order at no additional cost!
Glen More (Thursday Night Gaming)
Ok, so tonight I managed to get in 2 whole games before calling it a night! If you know my schedule and the the group (LLGers - Lovers of Longer Games), you'd know this is impressive! Anyway, so I was hit up to try out Glen More as I was trying to be good and leave early for a change and go home to the wife and kids. Sadly, my desire to try out a new game over took my original plans!
So, after a quick run through of the rules we dove into it. I was a little shaky about the activation of adjacent tiles and the movement of the "Clansmen", but after a my second turn I quickly had all that ironed out. So, in this game your using your colored meeple to bid on various properties with various production abilities. The player in the rear gets to place first and play progresses from there (Think Leap Frog), but the trick is not jumping to far ahead or you might short yourself out of some movements waiting on the other players to slowly surpass you. The other big element is the placement, which is limited to spaces adjacent to a Clansman, and which in turn activate all other adjacent spaces when placed. Ok... take all that in and become completely confused! Moving on, I'll spare you any further convoluted observations about the mechanics and say this, if you've ever played Cuba, it feels in some very subtle ways like Cuba Mega Lite!
For me the best part of this game was watching my friend Sam being abused by the Dice that in our 3 player game, acted as a 4th player that when rolled removed the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd tile in the rotation. Every other time the dice was rolled it just wrecked his strategy and his reactions were priceless!! As expected though I didn't win my first time out but I feel that my score was respectable: Sam 58, Doug 54, and Me 47. Ok, so yeah I sucked... but I had fun!
Glen More: Light, but strategic. Fun and easy to learn! 9 out of 10 for my first play through!
Castle Raveloft (Thursday Night Gaming)
So... tonight was another fun filled meeting of the Camel City Gamers of Winston Salem. I myself arrived a bit late, but was lucky enough to find a seat in a game of Castle Ravenloft with a few fellow gamers. This was my first time playing the Ravenloft board game and was a bit thrown by the watered down 4th Ed. D&D mechanics of the game. However, this quickly gave way to my pleasure in ease of combat and moreover access to the D&D universe to non-roleplayers. The game is very straight forward with beautiful tile and card art, and the Minis look great and could easily be painted up to add even more to the game as a whole.
Anyway... back to the game we played! So, I chose the Dragonborn Fighter, with the other 4 players rounding out the pack of available characters. The first several rooms and monsters were easy to handle and allowed for quick progression, then around turn 10-11, things got much more interesting. I myself instigated the unleashing of all sorts of nasty when I failed to kill a Spider in my attack, which gave way to a new tile and a Wolf and then an Encounter card with yet another monster (Plague of Rats). Now, I find myself being chewed on by both these new monsters. Good Times!! At any rate, my fellow heroes abandoned me to pursue other rooms leaving me to the beasts! Finally, thanks to a treasure card that moved a couple of the creatures off my tile, I was able to finish off my initial target and open up a new room. Sounds good, right?? Wrong!! The room of course would be the objective room (or in other words the room holding the item we needed to win), and now I'm face to face with not 1, not 2, but 5 ugly mean ass monsters! My fellow heroes are at the closest 2 tiles away and all these guys are getting to beat on me every turn since each player controlled one! After everyone had taken their turns I was still standing with just a couple Hit Points to spare, I failed my first attack on the baddies, and sat back accepting my fate... but my team swooped in for the save! Everyone kicked ass and looted up! Finally, after 4-5 more turns following my fail, we had done it! We killed all the keepers of the medallion and returned victorious!
So, what are my thoughts on Ravenloft... Well, I liked it a lot! I think the overall design is fantastic and the playability is very high even for the non-RPGer.
So, I'd say 9 out of 10 for my first play through of D&D's Castle Ravenloft
Anyway... back to the game we played! So, I chose the Dragonborn Fighter, with the other 4 players rounding out the pack of available characters. The first several rooms and monsters were easy to handle and allowed for quick progression, then around turn 10-11, things got much more interesting. I myself instigated the unleashing of all sorts of nasty when I failed to kill a Spider in my attack, which gave way to a new tile and a Wolf and then an Encounter card with yet another monster (Plague of Rats). Now, I find myself being chewed on by both these new monsters. Good Times!! At any rate, my fellow heroes abandoned me to pursue other rooms leaving me to the beasts! Finally, thanks to a treasure card that moved a couple of the creatures off my tile, I was able to finish off my initial target and open up a new room. Sounds good, right?? Wrong!! The room of course would be the objective room (or in other words the room holding the item we needed to win), and now I'm face to face with not 1, not 2, but 5 ugly mean ass monsters! My fellow heroes are at the closest 2 tiles away and all these guys are getting to beat on me every turn since each player controlled one! After everyone had taken their turns I was still standing with just a couple Hit Points to spare, I failed my first attack on the baddies, and sat back accepting my fate... but my team swooped in for the save! Everyone kicked ass and looted up! Finally, after 4-5 more turns following my fail, we had done it! We killed all the keepers of the medallion and returned victorious!
So, what are my thoughts on Ravenloft... Well, I liked it a lot! I think the overall design is fantastic and the playability is very high even for the non-RPGer.
So, I'd say 9 out of 10 for my first play through of D&D's Castle Ravenloft
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