At Gen Con 2014 I had the chance to speak with Chris Badell from Greater Than Games about everything over the last two years. We briefly discuss the Sentinels of the Multiverse expansions, Galactic Strike Force, and Sentinels of the Universe.
GTG has some great plans for Sentinel Tactics. You can learn more at Greater Than Games.
In this Box Breaking Matt takes a look at Templar from Queen Games. Templar is a board game that focuses on hiding treasure from the king.
My first box breaking on a Queen Games Product – how awesome! I hope to have a written review up shortly after I return from Gen Con
Well with only 6 days left I’m getting antsy. New announcements are rolling in everyday, ranging from new tournament software to the next new release. It is getting overwhelming, I’ve scheduled eighteen interviews, and I’m going to get some great games in their somewhere.
With that being said I’d like to share with you my thoughts on Munchkin! Steve Jackson Games will be there and they are releasing Munchkin Pathfinder deluxe. Munchkin is a great game that lends a role playing feel to a tabletop game. It brings spirit to the table that rings the tone of a drinking game with out drinking. Do you now what I mean? The suspense build up while the players concoct their scheme to win. Then the tension breaks and there is laughter and loud roars of joy that grow more deafening as the game goes on, drowning out the bar next door. At least that has been my experience, – fun exploding at every turn.
Beyond that I’m really looking forward to the Deluxe version of the game. It includes a board, standies and well great art.
I really don’t need to ramble on and on about Munchkin. It’s been around long enough that you should know. If not check it out.
Since that was so short I am really going to work my way into the Cryptozoic area and explore some of their games. They have done a lot in the last couple of years and I really need to catch up. I’m told that ROFL, The Hobbit, and the DC Comics Deck Building Game are all must haves. I’ll do my best to get you the skinny on that.
Only one week left and I’m really working my rear end off to be ready for the show. Today I’m including an announcement from Ares Games. It’s below.
Ares Games pre-releases The Battle of Five Armies
at Gen Con Indy 2014
The game publisher will also present the upcoming family game Dino Race and the 4-engine bombers coming in the WW2 Wings of Glory line, and promote with events the new games released earlier this year Sails of Glory and Galaxy Defenders
Ares Games will attend Gen Con 2014 (Booth #459 August 14-17, Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis) presenting the awaited new game The Battle of Five Armies, with the first copies arriving for the show.
The Ares Games booth will also hold a preview of the upcoming family game Dino Race and of the WW2 Wings of Glory Special Packs featuring the 4-engine bombers B-17 and Avro Lancaster.
Demos and several events are planned for WW1 and WW2 Wings of Glory, Sails of Glory and Galaxy Defenders.
One of the authors of Galaxy Defenders, Nunzio Surace, will be present at the Ares booth through the show.
A special event is scheduled on August 14th, at 10 am: the attempt to set the record for most players in a Sails of Glory game, with 50 people at the same table.
The Battle of Five Armies (releasing at the show) is a new game in the War of the Ring line. It’s a stand-alone board game for two players, which recreates the fierce struggle witnessed by Bilbo Baggins at the end of his quest for the Lonely Mountain, in “The Hobbit”, the world-renowned masterpiece by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Developed by the same designer team of the awarded War of the Ring board game (Francesco Nepitello, Marco Maggi and Roberto Di Meglio), The Battle of Five Armies is based on the mechanics first used in that game, merging action dice and event cards. The system has been further enhanced by the addition of the “Fate Track” mechanic, handling the arrival of the allies and the triggering of special events. All the key characters in the battle – Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, Dain, the Elven King, Bard, Beorn, Bolg – are featured with powerful special abilities and unique sculptures.
The first copies of the game will be available at the show, and it will be in distribution in the second half of August.
Dino Race(in preview, releasing Q4 this year) is a fun, simple and fast game, for two to four players, age 6 and up. In a crazy race, each player controls a couple of dinosaurs, running away from a raging volcano and a river of lava, toward safety. A precious dino egg must be carried out – and as precious as it is, it’s quite a burden to carry while you are running!
The dinos run through plains, swamps, woods and deserts, playing tricks upon his opponents and avoiding the nasty tricks of them. Players must bring their dinosaur duo to the end of the race track, scoring points when one of their dinos finishes the race. They also score points bringing the dino egg to safety. The player with the highest score wins the game.
Dino Race game includes 8 beautiful figures of pretty dinosaurs (two for each species) and one dino egg, sculpted by Michelangelo Ricci– a sculptor with a great experience of dinosaurs and prehistory. Dino Race is scheduled to pre-release at the Spiel 2014 show, in Essen.
The long-awaited WW2 4-engine bombers (releasing Q4 this year) in Wings of Glory will be also previewed at the show. In the Ares Games’ booth, attendees will see the four bombers to be featured in the Special Packs: B-17F “Memphis Belle,” B-17G “A Bit of Lace,” Avro Lancaster B.III “Grog’s the Shot,” and Mk.III Dambuster “Popsie”. Each pack will include a 1-200 scale miniature, a special base with gaming stats, a variable altitude flying stand, and a specific deck of maneuver cards, as well as specific rules and components necessary to use the airplane. These Special Packs will also include the Industrial Complex card and rules, and in the case of the Dambuster, a paper play mat representing a dam and the surrounding area, additional counters and specific rules.
More information about these games are available at Ares Games website – www.aresgames.eu. At Gen Con 2014, visit Ares Games at booth 459.
About Ares Games
Ares Games is an Italian board game publisher established in 2011 to create quality hobby products for the international audience. Ares Games is the publisher of the award-winning “War of the Ring” board game, of “Wings of Glory” range of airplane combat games and miniatures, recreating aerial warfare in WW1 and WW2, and more recently, of the tactical ship-to-ship miniature game “Sails of Glory” and the cooperative tactical Sci-Fi miniatures game “Galaxy Defenders”. Ares Games’ catalog also includes Family Games and Euro Games. For further information, visit the website www.aresgames.eu and the Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/AresGames.
It’s clear that Ares has it going on at Gen Con. I am super interested in the Battle of Five Armies. I have wanted to learn more about the game ever since I saw the pictures of th emini’s in Meeple magazine. I really don’t know much more than that … but I will.
See you at Gen Con!
Only 8 days left, are you excited yet? Well yesterday we discussed a Dropzone Commander. A game that when it came on the scene it hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped since. Today I’d like to talk about Golem Arcana from Hairbrained Schemes. Hairbrained Schemes is a small group of passionate game developers lead by Jordan Weisman, complete list here.
Golem Arcan is a new game that could potentially hold some keys to the future of gaming. Let’s start with the basics. Golem Arcana is a miniatures board game that is striving to incorporate the use of smart devices. I did get a look at the miniatures at Origins and the are excellent. Beautifully sculpted with dynamic poses and painted with vibrant colors, what you would expect from an average to an above average hobby painter. While the miniatures are an important part of the game I don’t believe they are the focus.
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Guardians’ Chronicles
$69.99 SRP
Guardians Chronicles is a superhero-themed miniatures game in which you play as one of the members of the Liberty Patrol or as the group’s archnemesis, Professor Skarov.
To set up, the Skarov player arranges the nine double-sided game board tiles into a 3×3 grid, with his control room in the center space. Each player takes her character sheet, miniature and 7-10 action cards. These characters enter the grid on one of the side tiles and need to advance around the square – confronting minions and traps along the way – in order to achieve whatever objectives are in place for this game, such as thwarting a nuclear missile attack.
Each turn, the hero players play 1-2 action cards; each card shows both a special power and modifiers to that hero’s inherent statistics – movement, attack, defense and mental – and the played cards can be used for either the special power or the modifiers. Each hero player has four actions in a round, and the players can play in any order they wish; the actions are move across the base, attack an enemy, or use a special power on a played action card or the hero’s character sheet.
Professor Skarov then receives a number of action points based partially on the heroes’ actions, and he uses these to activate himself, his minions, or his robots, with these figures also performing move, attack, or special power actions.
As the players complete (or fail to complete) objectives, the newspaper’s report on who did what, and the sum of those reports determine who comes out on top.
2-5 players
Ages 14+
King of New York
$49.99 SRP
There’s always something happening in the city that never sleeps. Maybe it’s the lights, maybe it’s the energy, or maybe it’s the giant monsters trying to demolish the place!
King of New York is a standalone game from designer Richard Garfield that keeps the core ideas of King of Tokyo while introducing new ways to play. As in King of Tokyo, your goal is to be the first monster to collect 20 victory points (VPs) or to be the last monster standing. On your turn, you roll six dice up to three times, then carry out the actions on those dice. Claws cause damage to other monsters, hearts heal damage to yourself, and energy is stored up so that you can purchase power cards that provide unique effects not available to anyone else.
Firefly: Blue Sun Expansion
$39.99 SRP
Firefly: The Game – Blue Sun brings a whole new level of danger, adventure, and exploration to the ‘Verse. Leave familiar space lanes behind and strike out for the Rim! New challenges and rewards await captains enterprising and daring enough to brave the frontier.
Blue Sun includes new Supply Cards, Nav Cards, and Jobs, as well as Story and Setup Cards to diversify your gameplay. Two additional Reaver Cutters and new rules put the ‘Verse on high alert!
Imperial Settlers
$55.99SRP
Settlers from four major powers of the world have discovered new lands, with new resources and opportunities. Romans, Barbarians, Egyptians and Japanese all at once move there to expand the boundaries of their empires. They build new buildings to strengthen their economy, they found mines and fields to gather resources, and they build barracks and training grounds to train soldiers. Soon after they discover that this land is far too small for everybody, then the war begins…
Imperial Settlersis a card game that lets player lead one of the four factions and build empires by placing buildings, then sending workers to those buildings to acquire new resources and abilities. The game is played over five rounds during which players take various actions in order to explore new lands, build buildings, trade resources, conquer enemies, and thus score victory points.
Contains:
220 cards:
– 30 Barbarian cards
– 30 Japanese cards
– 30 Roman cards
– 30 Egyptian cards
– 84 Common cards
– 16 Attack cards
136 Resource markers:
– 32 Food
– 32 Stone
– 32 Wood
– 40 Workers
63 tokens:
– 18 Raze tokens
– 10 Defense tokens
– 24 Gold tokens
– 6 Multiplier tokens
– 1 First player token
– 4 Egyptian special tokens
1 Score board
1 Round marker
4 Faction markers
4 Faction boards
IEL51179
Night of the Grand Octopus
$39.99 SRP
Long ago, the Grand Octopus, one filled with cosmically divine powers, reigned over the entire world – until an unfortunate combination of circumstances imprisoned it at the bottom of the ocean. Idle under miles of water, it fell asleep dreaming of the day when its time would come once again.
In Night of the Grand Octopus, you are one of the Elect and have been recruited by the Illuminati to form a cult to glorify the tentacled one. What’s more, your dreams have told you that the time has come, the stars have aligned so that you can perform the “Ritual of Appeal” and bring the Grand Octopus to surface once again. To perform the ritual, however, you need the right magical components, components to be found in a famous English university for young wizards and witches – and you’re not the only one seeking them.
In each round, players secretly place their cultist and monster tokens on locations, then reveal those locations at the same time. If only one cultist group occupies a location, that cult gains strength – but if two or more cults want the same spot, they must negotiate or both lose cult strength. If, on the other hand, a rival monster occupies the location, the cultist is eliminated. Gulp!
3-5 players
Ages 7+
