In this Box Breaking Matt takes a look at the contents of Telestrations. The hit game from Usaopoly about communication.
Thanks for watching.
To learn more about Telestrations you can visit Usaopoly.
Commands & Colors: Expansion 1: Greece & Eastern Kingdoms (Reprint)
$60.00 SRP
SDI
This Greece and the Eastern Kingdoms expansion features 21 scenarios. Now you can command the armies of Philip, Alexander and the Successors as you meet the hosts of Persians, Scythians and Indians to the east. In this expansion, you will find historical scenarios that focus on the hoplites of classical Greece fighting off the invading Persian army at Marathon and Plataea; epic battles from the Peloponnesian War, the rise of Macedon and Alexander’s battles of Gaugamela, Issus and Granicus against the Persians; and battles involving Alexander’s successors. With your Greeks you will be able to turn west and battle the Carthaginians in Sicily, or as King Pyrrhus at Heraclea and Ausculum, battle the Romans.
Rules-wise, if you are familiar with Commands & Colors: Ancients, you’ll have no trouble at all learning the special rules for this expansion, for the basic game mechanics remain unchanged. Battle dice still resolve combat quickly and the Command cards provide an element of luck that creates a fog of war and presents players with both challenges and opportunities for victory.
Contains:
Scenario Booklet
2 Reference Cards
Eight Dice
5 Sticker Sheets
Bag of 366 Blocks
A World at War: The Ultimate WWII Strategy Game (Reprint)
$195.00 SRP
A World at War completes the Advanced Third Reich/Empire of the Rising Sun game system, refining and clarifying the rules in every area of the game. Fifteen years of design and relentless play testing have resulted in a polished, proven game, which includes the following innovations:
Scenarios Included:
Global War Campaign Game
European Theater Campaign Game
Pacific Theater Campaign Game
Global War Campaign Game (historical)
European Campaign Game (historical)
Pacific Campaign Game (historical)
Battle of the Atlantic
Barbarossa
Coral Sea
Midway
Leyte Gulf
There won’t be new ships or the Captain’s Box at Gen Con. Still trying to work out a new process in production that will finally allow the line to move forward in a way that will be both profitable for Catalyst and a regular release schedule for players.
In the mean time, we’re trying to see if we can’t get something to Gen Con for Leviathans players. I’ve talked about this concept before. That we’ve been working on and off on these things forever, but we’re pushing to see if we can’t have a deck of Ship Quirks and Crew Abilities for sell; they won’t be for sell in stores anytime in the near future, but we’ll look at putting them on sell online after Gen Con.
So…what would these cards entail? Why would we want these in the game? Well…as any good miniatures game progresses…well, you add to it. Simply the nature of the beast. And for me, right from the get go as I was designing the game and then polishing it up through endless playtests, a slew of fun rules would come into my head and I’d jot them down. Ultimately, however, any of these rules do not work as “standard” rules…in fact, they won’t even work within the Captain’s Manual “enchanced rules”. Instead, they’re perfect for players to add some unique flavor to a ship in a given scenario to mix up game play.
Taking directly from the rules text that introduces both the Ship Quirks and the Crew Abilities:
Not every ship is the same, even among ships of the same class and Type. Anyone that has served on board a vessel knows the complexity of their construction creates unique design quirks that bring a flavor all their own to each ship. This is all the more true for leviathans that are still relatively nascent technologies.
The following is a series of positive and negative quirks, each with a numerical value that determines the relative strength or weakness of a given quirk. It is strongly recommended that if a player chooses a positive quirk for his ship, he or she should give it a negative quirk of equal as well. However, each playing group can decide if negative quirks must balanced positive quirks.
CREW ABILITIES
A ship is far more than the nuts and bolts and electroid that holds it together in the sky. The men and women that bring their skills, passions and blood are what elevate each ship to be far more than the sum of its parts, turning a ship into a legend. The following rules allow players to bring the crew of a ship to life.
“Just show me some of the rules!” I can hear you saying…so here here we go.
First up, the current look of the Ship Quirks and two of many, many cards that’ll be apart of deck.
Right out of the gate, note that these were test layouts done…well…a good while ago, so the rules have progressed in playtesting since then. For example, the current final rules for “Superior Armor” are:
A particularly superlative batch of materials results in superior armor.
All Armor Slots on the ship provide an additional +1 modifier to any Slot Numbers in its Location.
The value for this quirk is based upon the total +1 Breach modifiers provided by all Armor Slots on the ship. For example, the HML Raven has five +1 Armor Slots and so the value of this quirk assigned to that ship would be 5. However, the HML Beagle has five +1 Armor Slots and a +2 Armor Slot, so the value of this quirk assigned to that ship would be 7.
As for “Accurate Weapon”, the final text will have a point value of “+2, +2, +3, +4, +4? to reflect the fact that this helps smaller dice more than larger dice, while it also won’t be able to be used with Bracketing Fire (just too sick).
Next up, the Crew Abilities. You’ll notice no point values on either of these cards…that’s because when these were given a test layout, the points were not yet assigned.
All-Weather is pretty much as is, still, just getting a 1 point cost added.
As for Lady Luck…it’s one of the most powerful of the Crew Abilities, and so will be priced at 5 points. Even then, we’ll be folding in a change to curb it down..a “own ship only” text will keep it from being too sick…but it’s still a great ability.
Anyways…there ya have it! Please note, we are ‘trying’ to have this at Gen Con, but no promises. Regardless, after Gen Con, we’ll move to get these released in PDF format for purchase. They’ll add a wonderful variety of play to any style of game.
For those attending Gen Con, see ya then!
Randall
Civilization: Wisdom and Warfare Expansion
$34.95 SRP
You have created towering wonders, built vast cities, and tamed sprawling wilderness. Now, prepare to guide your civilization to new heights of power and influence!
The Wisdom and Warfare expansion for Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game introduces a new optional combat system, plus Social Policies to help you build your fledgling empire even more effectively. With six brand new civilizations, new map tiles, and more exciting options, your budding empire will become greater than you ever imagined!
From Catalyst Game Labs
Hey all,
Sigh…once again, have to start with an apology. The launch of Shadowrun, Fifth Edition has been an all consuming project that has sucked up most of Catalyst’s bandwidth and all of mine almost across the board. For those that don’t follow such things, the PDF & Print Preorders went on sale yesterday. Still a ton of SR-retaled stuff to do moving forward, of course, but SR monopilizing so much of my time is finally near an end.
Course, as an aside, the more fantastic Shadowrun does, the better it is for Leviathans as it gives us a better war chest to deal with the production issues still nagging at this game’s heels.
Nevertheless, I will be getting a swath of my time mostly back, which means more regular updates of various things, including getting PDF releases back on line.
As an apology for the dry spell of the last month or so, thought I’d give you the German SMS Wolveto play, along with the rules for the two new slots on this dangerous destroyer.
You can click here to download the PDF for this destroyer.
And the rules:
CHAFF SLOT
On a result of 8-10 the torpedo is shot down, causing no further damage or effects; on a result of 7 or less the chaff does not shoot it down and a standard Breach Roll is now made by the attacker to determine if the torpedo strikes the target.
SCREENING CREW SLOT
A Crew Slot with a white diamond icon is known as a Screening Crew Slot.
A ship containing a Screening Crew Slot need only spend 1 MP to either Defensive or Offensive Screen (as opposed to the standard 3 MP).
***
To get a sense of the German vibe, feel free to field the Wolve with the HML Leviathans or HMLMedusa.
See ya next duty shift!
Randall
Railways of Great Britain
$35.99
Railways of Great Britain is an exciting new expansion for the Railways of the World board gaming system, featuring a board of Great Britain! You will need the pieces from Railways of the World (track, city tiles, bonds, money, empty city markers, trains and first player marker) to play Railways of Great Britain. It is mid-19th century Great Britain. The tramways that first appeared to transport coal have since been upgraded to railways. Numerous different companies (using different railway gauges) have connected to villages, towns and cities across the country. Invest wisely and guide your railroad to financial success as you take control of the Railways of Great Britain.
Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation
$34.95 SRP
One of Reiner Knizia’s most beloved games is back! Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is a tense, two-player board game in which one player controls the Fellowship of the Ring while the other wields the forces of Sauron as they struggle for dominion over Middle-earth.
This classic game of strategy and combat features stunning artwork and a faithful recreation of the clash for power between the Fellowship and the armies of Mordor.
Corporate America
$40.00 SRP
Corporate America is a political satire game about corporate influence of government. In it, players take the role of corporations, manipulating the population, government, and each other to maximize profits. Players keep their money secret until the end of the game, when the player with the most money wins. The game progresses through four phases: Wall Street, Main Street, Campaign Trail and Capitol Hill.
In the Wall Street Phase, players start businesses (like Trius and Oggle Search) which fall into various industries (like transportation, luxury, and technology).
In the Main Street Phase, players take turns playing consumer cards, which determine which businesses make money. Players can manipulate the population and can bribe each other to make sure their businesses get consumed.
In the Campaign Trail Phase, a number of election issues are revealed and players get the opportunity to run for president. After players electioneer, players secretly bid on candidates to determine who will be the next president. After three bid rounds, whoever has raised the most money in the campaign wins the election.
In the Capitol Hill Phase, the new president is rewarded with an Executive Privilege card, which grants a special power, and can then pass legislation to impact businesses and the rules of the game. The president can keep campaign promises or blatantly break them for personal gain!
The game ends after a set number of turns. Whoever has the most money at the end of the game wins!
Game Contents:
3-6 players
Ages 13+
Railways of North America
$39.99
Railways of North America is an exciting new expansion for the Railways of the World board gaming system, featuring a Canadian board! This new Canadian map introduces new features — Mines and Ferry Lines — using cards that start out on the table from the onset, and can be claimed anytime (just like Railroad Operations cards) for the right price! As an added bonus, the RONA expansion includes the long-awaited rules for the Transcontinental Game of ROTW — players use the Eastern US (and Mexico if they wish) map from Railways of the World AND the Western US map from the Railways of the Western US expansion, combining them to make a MEGA MAP and provide a MEGA GAME playing experience!
