Jun 082013
 

Well Heavy Gear fans I’ve finally managed to sit down and give Forged in Fire its fair time needed for a review.I don’t

A 1:144 scale HACS-02HG-MPS Grizzly, from Drea...

A 1:144 scale HACS-02HG-MPS Grizzly, from Dream Pod 9’s tabletop miniatures wargame Heavy Gear Blitz! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

want to spoil anything for you so I won’t delve into the fluff. I will say there is plenty of it. If you are a Southern player you might just want to pick this book up for that alone. Instead I would like to talk about the features that the field guide has to offer you as a player. These features make the book a bit more of a tool for you.

The first is the vehicle compendium. It follows the same basic format of the vehicle compendium used in Perfect Storm, giving you a blueprint style picture of each gear and vehicle, and the variants of those models. Each model has two documents associated with it. The first is a development history. The second is an operations history. It wasn’t really necessary for them to do that, but it really puts the the compendium over the top. You also get little blue prints of each variant with the load right next to it. The vehicle compendium from Perfect Storm was a huge asset to me when building my forces the first few times.

Combat groups follow the same basic template that is laid out in Perfect Storm, which is to pick a threat value, followed by priority level, and then a regiment. Regiments limit the combat group availability. They are linked in the margins of the book. For example, a General Purpose Squad can be considered for an infantry regiment, a gear regiment, or an armor regiment. Regiment types will always offer you a benefit that comes with an imposing restriction. An infantry regiment can’t be played at Priority Level 4 and you must take at least two more infantry platoons. In return you gain a bonus veteran slot that can be used.

The nitty gritty defining your Southern force seems to take place when you select a league or a cadre. They are an upgrade that provides your army with unique options available only to your choice. Of course there are always the generics. In the case of the South they are called hemisphere wide options. One of the options is “Gear Carriers”, which basically allows certain combat groups to take Baranbys for 35 threat value.

There are at least half a dozen leagues that are more specific. These often define your force even more. The Southern Republic Army or S.R.A. has a great deal of focus to it. This league provides the player with amphibious troops, combined operations, humanist prejudice, political officer, and republican cadres. Each of these brings special benefits to your game table.

The Republican Cadre is a special branch of the S.R.A. using the best equipment in the southern hemisphere. This allows you to swap a G.P. Squad, Veteran Strider, or a Veteran black ops cadre for a Republican cadre of the same association. When you swap a squad the upgrade mus still meet the basic requirements. A Republican Cadre G.P Squad must still fill the requirements of a normal G.P. Squad . I think one of my favorite options is upgrading no more than two standard Sidewinders to the Riotmaster load out for free 0 T.V. The Riotmaster variant uses a Fragmentation Cannon.  The Fragmentation Cannon boasts a rate of fire 2 along with the traits  melee, anti infantry and reload.  It does have a shorter range as a result.

One last piece of information, the final part of the book contains the battle for Port Oasis. Not only is it a detailed account of the history, but it is also a scenario you can play. It contains a complete list of the forces involved for you to reenact the battle.

Forged in Fire is a complete historic guide to your army if you are a Southern player. It offers you a complete vehicle compendium. By giving you a more detailed army building guide, you truly get the feeling you have become a Southerner. If you aren’t a Southern player it is a valuable tool for you to understand the enemy.

PDF on DrivethruRPG

If you want to learn more about Heavy Gear visit Dream Pod 9.

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The Walking Dead Board Game 2

 Board Games  Comments Off on The Walking Dead Board Game 2
Jun 082013
 

The Walking Dead Board Game 2

$ 40.00 SRP

 

In this co-operative game, players take on the roles of Rick, Glenn, Daryl, Michonne, and other characters. The Survivors are on the hunt for Walkers and must defend 4 key Locations in order to stay alive: The Farm, The Prison, The Town, and The Highway. Using oversized Location tiles, the map board is built at random each game, providing for great replayability. At each Location there is a Resource deck of 25 cards: Equipment, Allies, Food, or Ammunition. These decks are also placed at random locations, further adding to the replayability. A 48-card Event deck drives the action and triggers Walkers and other calamities to show up at the various Locations. Players draw Event cards each turn and have to figure out how to minimize the effects of their Events over the course of their turn. Dice are used to resolve combat and to determine the outcome of some Event cards.

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Zpocalypse: Zmaster Expansion June 14th

 Board Games, Green Brier Games  Comments Off on Zpocalypse: Zmaster Expansion June 14th
Jun 072013
 

ZpocZpocalypse: Zmaster Expansion

$40.00 SRP

Zmaster adds a fifth player to the Zpocalypse main game as the game master. This new player controls the zombies as they converge upon the survivors, who are trying to protect their bunker. Via zombie upgrades, new mutated zombie miniatures and the Deck of Doom, the zombie master adds new mechanics which spice up an already epic zombie survival game. Choose which scenario you prefer for the style of zombies to combat each game.

 

Zmaster provides rules and mechanics for altering the physics of the game to make it harder or easier, depending on your preferences and style of play. It turns Zpocalypse into the ultimate sandbox for testing out survival strategies and testing out how one would cope with a zombie threat.

 

Requires the Zpocalypse main game to play.

 

2-5 players

Ages: 13+

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Wings of Glory from Ares Games

 Ares Games, Historical  Comments Off on Wings of Glory from Ares Games
Jun 072013
 

wings of gloryYear 1917. All across Europe, while men face a last-ditch battle in the mud of the trenches, colorful biplanes fly in the foggy sky, gallantly fighting each other as true “knights of the air”.

 

Take the commands of one of the early flying machines to shoot down your enemy, complete recon missions, and become an ace, following in the steps of men like Manfred von Richthofen, Eddie Rickenbacker, Georges Guyneer and Francesco Baracca!

 

The WW1 series of Wings of Glory is an easy, fun to play, fast and furious system which you will be able to start playing minutes after opening the box! Innovative game mechanics encompass planes with very different flight capabilities and firepower, while still keeping the flow of the combat simple and fun.

 

These miniatures are designed to be used with the popular air combat game system created by Andrea Angiolino and Pier Giorgio Paglia, each WW1 Wings of Glory Airplane Pack is a ready-to-play model, painted and assembled, 100% compatible with any other WW1 Wings of Glory game product. In each pack you will find all you need to play with the airplane: a special base with gaming stats, a variable altitude flying stand, and a specific deck of maneuver cards.

 

You must own a WW1 Wings of Glory – Rules and Accessories Pack to play.

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Jun 072013
 

Blackclaw Games has recently released Space Conspiracy. Space Conspiracy is a role playing game in the science fictionspace genre with a large dose of quirky humor mixed in.

In the game, characters are created with a point buy system that players use to assign values to various attributes like Smarts, Muscles, and Attention Span. Players can also spend points on bonus traits such as “shiny” which grants the character shiny skin that helps reduce the damage taken from lasers. Players can get more points to spend by taking negative traits such as “doomed” which can result in the character being squished by a random asteroid. Dying in the game is almost assured, but the existence of clones allows characters to live on in different bodies, albeit sometimes with mutations.

Upon creation, each character knows about a randomly created conspiracy. The combined collection of conspiracies known by the party shapes the campaign universe. Within this universe characters will face challenges, wear living hats, and battle great horned fuzzwazzles with rocket launchers and ham sandwiches.

More information about Space Conspiracy can be found at www.spaceconspiracy.com. The book can be purchased at Amazon and a downloadable PDF is available at DriveThruRPG.

 

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Magic the Gathering M14

 CCG, Magic The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast  Comments Off on Magic the Gathering M14
Jun 072013
 

Each year brings an exciting new release of the Magic: The Gathering Core Set. Brand new cards are introduced, a few favorites return, and the Standard tournament environment is invigorated with fresh ideas for decks. The Magic 2014 Core Set offers impressive cards for Magic players of all experience levels; including a new version of a popular creature type, Slivers!

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Desert Heat from Locked and Loaded

 Board Games, Locked and Loaded Publishing  Comments Off on Desert Heat from Locked and Loaded
Jun 072013
 

NAW: Desert Heat

$59.99 SRPdessert heat

 

It’s the summer of 1943 and Allied forces fight the Axis armies over the burning sands of North Africa. It’s a fluid struggle pitting tanks on tanks, and now you can refight these battles using the popular Nations at War system. Designed by Ralph Ferrari, here you’ll find everything you’re looking for in a platoon-level game! Armor, artillery, infantry that serves as more than cannon fodder, command and control, air support, and desperate close assaults that leave the victor in possession of the ground and the defeated in headlong retreat, all in an easy to learn, challenging to master, game system.

 

Desert Heat, which focuses on the fighting between the Americans, their British allies, Germans, Italians, and French, includes three counter sheets replete with the vehicles, men, and weapons of the armies that fought in North Africa in 1941-43.

 

There are 16 scenarios played out on four 11” x 17” geomorphic maps with .75” and .625” counters.

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Summoner Wars

 CCG, Plaid Hat Games  Comments Off on Summoner Wars
Jun 072013
 

PhoenixSuW: Phoenix Elves: 2nd Summoner Faction Deck

$9.95 SRP

 

All those who have wronged the Phoenix Elves will now know the power of the great bird whose name they invoke! Queen Maldaria joins the Summoner Wars as the Phoenix Elves’ Second Summoner.

 

This Second Summoner deck is a full faction deck with its own Summoner, set-up card, Champions, Commons, Walls and Event Cards. It requires a Summoner Wars Master Set or Starter Set to play.

 

It is a stand-alone faction deck, but the Commons and Champions from this deck can also be switched in and out with Phoenix Elves cards from the Phoenix Elves vs. Tundra Orcs starter set and from the Rukar’s Power reinforcement pack.

 

Contains:

1 Queen Maldaria – Summoner

1 Fanessa – Champion

1 Kaebeeros – Champion

1 Duke Ramazall – Champion

7 Firelings – Common

6 Fire Archers – Common

5 Fire Dancers – Common

1 Release the Hounds – Event

1 Wrath of the Volcano – Event

2 Passion of the Phoenix – Events

2 Lava Flow – Events

3 Conjure Phoenixes – Events

3 Wall Cards

6 Phoenixes – Conjuration

1 Summoner Reference Card

1 Conjurations Rules Card

 

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 Posted by at 1:03 PM