Dice | Through Gamer Goggles

Dragon Rage from Game Salute

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Jul 282012

Dragon Rage

$ 75.00 SRP

Dragon Rage is an introductory wargame set in a fantasy world. Dragons and other monsters attack walled cities, trying to destroy as much of the city building as they can while the city garrison fights back. Controls the invading monsters or the city forces in a merciless struggle! The basic game scenario has two Dragons attacking the seaside city of Esirien. The defender controls a small militia that defends the city. All troops are represented by counters on the game board’s hex grid. During each game turn, each player may move some or all his units and then fight the enemies within attack range. The humans have a local hero which has special powers, as well as a wizard that can cast spells. The dragons are very resilient and can breathe fire, destructing men and buildings in a blazing roar. Combat is resolved trough a dice roll on a combat resolution table, cross-referencing the attacking and defending unit’s strength. Dragon Rage is a good introduction to the world of wargames : There are few units on both sides, making the game simple to learn and fast-paced. It will introduce you to key wargaming concepts such as tactical movement on an hexagon grid, units statistics printed on the counters, use of a combat resolution table, attack-to-defense ratios, terrain modifiers, reinforcements, and special abilities.

Game Contents: ·Double-sided mounted game board : The walled city of Esirien, and Nurkott – an Orc oppidum ·213 thick, die cut, full color counters and markers. ·One 16 pages Game Manual with simplified rules to teach you the game. (English, French, Spanish or German) ·One 36 pages Rules Reference Manual with extended rules, including 12 scenarios ( 6 for each map ), tournament rules, campaign rules to play several linked scenarios, and additional rules to make your own scenarios. (English, French, Spanish or German) ·4 monster charts to track the damage done to the Dragons, Rocs, Wurms, Giants and other monsters. ·1 Player aid with summaries for spells and Dragon combat. (English only) ·2 plastic six-sided dice (2d6) ·4 Plastic bags for components storage

Ghost Pirates From Brooklyn Indie Games

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Jul 062012

Ghost Pirates

$ 25.00 SRP

A game of ship to ship tactical action for 2 scurvy players. Knave! Ye be tasting my wrath fer trespassin’ on me seas. BOARD ’ER YA SCALLYWAGS, AN’ KEELHAUL HER CAPTAIN! Ethereal pirates swarm back and forth over each other’s ships as the seas toss in a midnight storm. The decks of each vessel shift in and out of reality as the fighting begins. One captain and crew will emerge triumphant, and the loser will be damned to stalk the bowels of Davy Jones’ locker. How will it end for you? Ghost Pirates is a unique tactical game that takes about 30 minutes to play, and is suitable for ages 13 and up. Its learning curve from tactics to strategic play is not too steep and will not scare off new players. You can learn and play your first game in about 30-45 minutes, and have a second go within the hour.

Game Contents: •72 cards •34 crew tokens •set of custom six-sided dice

Wiraqocha From Coffee Haus Games

Board Games, Coffee Haus Games Comments Off

Jun 292012

Wiraqocha

$ 60.00 SRP

We are in the early XXth century, but the world is not as we know it. In 1895, exploring Amazonia, Auguste Copperpot discovered a gate to a lost valley, occupied by a primitive civilization. Wiraqocha Valley was the name he gave to this remote Eden. This world enclosed a treasure that was going to revolutionize modern sciences, namely the Somnium, an orange luminescent crystal showing amazing properties. It can be used as fuel, affects matter and even time. Immediately, this virgin land became a new Eldorado for European colonists. Empress Victoria II decided to send several conglomerates to share this promised land and reap the fruits to her benefit. Zeppelin fleet, full of scientists, adventurers and looters, clouded the Atlantic sky. Wiraqocha Valley is represented by an adjustable board consisting of 22 hexagonal tiles, each of them being identified by a number from 1 to 12, or a dice combo (pairs or straights). In his turn, each player rolls some six-sided dice, combining them to take possession of territories, or to protect from the opponents the ones he already owns. Every hexagon affords resources or special capacities, which are means to influence die results to fit one’s strategy. There are three ways to win: bring back a huge cargo of Somnium to the Empress; acquire enough scientific knowledge to build the Leviathan, a terrifying weapon serving the Kingdom; or find in the temple depths the four relics that will allow you to reach Wiraqocha’s treasure.

Force on Force Review of my Demonstration

Miniature Reviews, Miniatures, Origins 2012, Osprey Publishing 1 Response »

Jun 112012

Force on Force is a modern day skirmish game that has no standard line for its models. In other words it is just a set of rules. I had tha opportunity to play a quick game at Origins Game fair and I thought I would share what I learned before I do the book review. This is not in any way a complete game review and it is important you know that because you can only get so much out of a demo.

I was a little leery of the fact that there is not a miniatures line to go with the game. After playing the game I am really starting to like the fact that you can proxy your models for your force. It does two thing for me. It saves money, and it makes it easy to play any force I want. Those are important to me.

Force on Force is a simple game to pick up that allows you to apply tactics. Which is a seemingly unique quality in a skirmish game in our current trending. It was nice to play a game that wasn’t dependent on simple tricks and gimmicks to win a battle, or a game that requires the player to go first in order to win. that isn’t the feel I received from playing the demo at all.

The rules are a little different though, well the dice mechanic is. The system is set up so that different levels of units use different dice. For example, using a popular motif for labeling units, core troop would use a d6 for their skill rolls while elite troops would be assigned a d8. The basic concept is the bigger the die the better the troop. On the flipside though the smaller the die the more likely you are to roll any given number. For example, you have a 25% chance of rolling a 1,2,3, or a 4 on a d4. The dice and type of unit are cross referenced on charts to determine effects. The other thing that I thought was cool wounded models have a chance of standing back up on their next turn.

If I was to base my opinion of Force on Force entirely on the demo it is certainly worth trying. I did pick up a copy of the rules to review. I hope to have it read by the end of next week and a book review written shortly after.

Freeblades Game Concepts

DGS Games, Freeblades, Origins 2012 1 Response »

Jun 082012

In this video John demonstrates the Game Mechanics used in Freeblades. He specifically touches on casting a spell, ranged combat, and close combat. Freeblades is a fantasy based skirmish game that uses a variety of dice in its system. The models use dice based on their “caste”. For example a minion/henchman uses a d4 while heroes use a d12. I am pretty much sold on the system.

The Freeblades miniature line is not one that is intimidating either. It has a lot of appeal to the experienced and the inexperienced painter.

Interview with Tom Meier from DGS Games(gamer-goggles.com)

Eddible Dice available in April

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Feb 122012

Chocolate Gaming Dice Set

$ 7.99 SRP

The only fumble for a natural one is devouring the misbehaving dice, so we now give you Dice Candies as a critically delicious treat for roleplaying gamers worldwide. Handmade and presented in a stylish package, you will find joy with every bite of this set of chocolate dice; which include a d20, d12, d10, d8, d6 and d4!

Fist Full of Penguins

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Feb 062012

Here come the animals! Add lions, camels, and kangaroos to your zoo in this simple dice game the whole family can enjoy. Lions are a big draw, but they scare the camels. Those pesky squirrels will pilfer your peanuts, but a moose won’t go anywhere without a squirrel. And the more kangaroos the better. Use your penguins wisely, and you can have the best zoo in the country!

Game Review Rezolution From Aberrant Games

Miniature Game Reviews Comments Off

Nov 172011

Rezolution is a sci-fi skirmish game from Aberrant Games. It is set in a cyber punk world where corporations effectively rule all. That theme always seems to lead the game into a “darker tomorrow”. As far as games go, it does a good job of putting fluff into the game. It also does an excellent job of using simple mechanics to achieve fast play. Since it is a skirmish game you do not need a lot of toys to play the game.

In order to start playing Rezolution you would need to choose a faction. The easiest and most cost effective way to do this is to buy one of the starter boxes. Each box has quick start rules and about 5 figures. If you want the rules you can buy a hard copy with the starter or you can download a copy at wargame vault. In other words for about 45.00 you have everything you will ever need to play the game.

There are a few game mechanics I would like to talk about, opposed rolling, models and wounds, craft, and hacking. It is these 4 mechanics that make the game stand apart. Opposed rolling is the where you shoot or make a melee attack against another model. When you do this you and your opponent both roll two six sided dice and add the appropriate attribute to determine the victor. When models get wounded the wound is recorded. By making this record you track the “strength” of the figure. As models are wounded they can face death sooner, or fall unconscious. Craft is the magic and psionic attribute. It only appears on models that have a magic or psionic ability. Each model with craft has craft powers defined on the stat card. Hack is well computer hacking. It allows for the model to do thing like, hack robots, and computers. It also allows two or more hackers to duel on the grid (a network so to speak). There are other cool mechanics that make this game even better, but the mechanics we spoke of are the ones that truly define Rezolution.

The forums are not always bustling with activity, but they are visited frequently. Further, the owners of the company takes great interest in their players and answers questions on a regular basis.

I give Rezolution a 5.6 out of 7. You might be wondering the what or the how behind that rating. Well, there is a long story to it, but basically my wife created a calculator that works of some points we decided were important for a game. I will go into that more at a later date. the hort story is we look at

start up
support
gameplay
fluff

There are more sub categories to each of those. you might think a 5.6 is low. It’s not. I have been using it for about 5 years now and it is a harsh calculator. Many games do not get above 3.

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