In the Figure Forge Matt attacks the Kemvar with glue. Assembling the few pieces that need work.
The Kemvar faction is one of the more appealing factions in the MERCS game. These guys deserve sculpted base. I think I mentioned that in the video. that should be up shortly.
You can learn more about MERCS here and follow them on Facebook.
Matt takes a look at the Forge in Fire Southern Field Guide from Dream Pod 9 for Heavy Gear. He shows you why the new field guides are huge improvement. The field guide features history, vehicle compendium, data cards, army building, and league rules.
If you wish to learn more about Heavy Gear feel free to visit Dream Pod 9.
You can get the PDF at Drivethru RPG
In this Box Breaking Matt breaks Kemvar out of the MERCS Kemvar starter. Briefly reviewing the detail displayed on the models.
The Kemvar faction is one of the more appealing factions in the MERCS game. Dynamic figures and stealth armor I can’t wait to get them on bases.
You can learn more about MERCS here and follow them on Facebook.
Primer: Battles from the Age of Reason Source Book
$36.00 SRP
For twenty years, the “Battles from the Age of Reason” (BAR) game series has been the ultimate gaming expression of mid-eighteenth century warfare. The BAR games feature a highly detailed, realistic and interactive game system, gorgeous map and counter graphics, through research and exciting battles throughout Europe and the Americas. However, because of rules, depth, detail and period, many gamers have been perplexed in learning the system. This Primer is designed as an illustrated learning tool to accompany and enhance the Third Edition BAR rules.
88 pages, perfect bound.
Full color throughout.
Includes one counter sheet of 280 half-inch counters as well.
In this Figure Forge Matt grabs his glue, knife and a file to tackle the task of assembling the FCC starter for the Mercs Miniatures Game
If you want to learn how to play MERCS they have more than a few videos on their blog.
Fate: Core System Rulebook
$25.00 SRP
Have you always wanted to play a post-apocalyptic spaghetti western with tentacle monsters? Swords and sorcery in space? Wish there was a game based on your favorite series of books, film, or television, but it never happened? Fate Core is your answer.
Fate Core is a tabletop role playing game about proactive, capable people who lead dramatic lives. Create your characters and develop instant group dynamics with our unique phased char gen system. Use those characters as a springboard to storytelling in our GM world building chapters.
For the Fate-familiar, take advantage of the new and improved approaches to character actions, aspects, compels, and more. With Fate Core, your story is up to you. But whatever you choose, you can expect a fun storytelling experience full of twists of fate.
320 pages
3-6 players
Ages 12+
In this Box Breaking Matt takes a look at the FCC starter pack of the MERCS miniatures line. MERCS is a fast paced skirmish game. These minis are highly detailed and are easy to assemble. You can watch our Figure Forge on the FCC soon.
To learn more visit MERCS.
I hope that helps you get a feel for what is in the FCC Starter kit.
Watch as Glues his way through the CCC starter for the MERCS minatures game. This is actually one of the complicated MERCS kits to put together.
Thanks for watching. You can learn more about MERCS here.
We will have more MERCS Miniatures coverage tomorrow.
In this Box Breaking Matt busts open the CCC faction starter. The MERCS miniatures are among some of the best in the gaming industry. Matt has never seen these models unassembled and unpainted before. Watch as he busts them open.
Those are some pretty dynamic miniatures. Later tonight Matt puts them together; we will have the figure forge up shortly.
You can learn more about MERCS on their website. You can also like them on Facebook.
Princes of the Dragon Throne
Let me start by saying this isn’t a rules review, it is more of an experience review. We played Princes of the Dragon Throne twice now and have a few things to share. But before we can do that you should watch this video. No, really the rest of this won’t make any sense if you don’t watch it. It is an excellent tutorial of the game.
As I said we played twice, well three times actually, but the first game doesn’t count because we botched the rules a little bit. We overlooked parliament. By the end of our second game we were starting to get the hang of it. But let’s review a little bit. The goal of the game is to become the next Dragon Lord. You do this by managing resources to gain control of the board, which in turn is how you earn prestige. Simply put you try and have the most prestige.
It’s not that simple. There are several ways for one to earn prestige. The easiest is to recruit prospects (Dragons and Citizens), some of them have a dragon’s claw on them that earn you prestige from the moment you buy them. Most of your prestige rewards don’t come until the end of the game. They are as follows.
Have the most dragons in your deck.
Have the most citizens in your deck.
Control more kingdoms by controlling the most guilds in that kingdom.
Have the most of a guild type.
Control the most Clan Houses.
As you can see there are many layers to the strategy involved.
On to our experience. At first I thought Princes of the Dragon Throne was going to be a long drawn out game that required a lot of effort to get through the lulls in resource building. While there are a few lulls in your resource management we quickly discovered there is a random factor to that as well. So the game could start quickly if inexpensive prospects are placed on the board. Just in case I lost you, here is a quick recap. You use your starter deck to gather your resources and recruit prospects. Recruiting a prospect allows you to discard a card from your hand or your discard pile. The recruits have varying resource costs with some as high as thirteen. If you have 6 prospects on the board with a cost of 10 or more it might be a couple of turns before anyone does any recruiting.
Oh and recruiting is strategy all in its own. It is always a good idea to replace a starter card with a citizen or a dragon that offers you more resources. Why? You might ask. Because by replacing your starter card with the recruited card you thin your deck making it easier to draw the better card.
Oops, I’m rambling. The second game we played we fell into a gather resource rut. It was almost like we were waiting for the crops to grow so we could harvest them. But in the last game we played there was no such dilemma. It just clicked. We had players gathering resources while others took the opportunity to recruit on the first turn.
It wasn’t until about half way through our third game that we realized we were playing wrong. We were following the rules and all that. What we weren’t doing was looking at the big picture. The one that is about the strategy of the game. We were kind of racing to get the most prestige. Which is the goal of the game. We were struggling to get recruits for that instant prestige we spoke of earlier. But we weren’t looking to control clans, guilds, kingdoms and we certainly weren’t looking at having the most citizens or dragons in our deck. All of us overlooked those. I mean we were acquiring them , but not focusing on them.
Once that critical piece of the puzzle was popped into place the entire game changed. It was no longer a mundane game of “I need these resources to buy that dragon”. It was instead a game of critical thinking, where you would try and plot your next turn instead of waiting to gather resources. Yes it became a wrestling match with all the players struggling to gain the most control all the end of game conditions. At this point you began to see light bulbs go off and on in the other players eyes.
And it really is a wrestling match. There are so many ways to thwart your opponents. For example, you can easily gain control of a guild in one turn by recruiting a dragon and a citizen; providng they share the same color. If you need to stop a player from controling a kingdom or the most guilds it is one of the easiest methods to use. Of course, if you have a soldier’s favor you can accomplish the same thing by adding or removing up to two Kings Guards from the board. As you can see it doesn’t take long for Princes of the Dragon Throne to become a cut throat game.
All in all we had some pitfalls in learning to play, but once we caught on to the game we were more than happy to be playing. Princes of the Dragon Throne is a game that offers the players more than enough options to keep everyone guessing, and wanting more. My boys really can’t wait to play again and neither can I.
