The year is 2000, the season summer, and my freetime plentiful. My brother had previously picked up the PC adventure game Baldur’s Gate and I had watched him play it some but had yet to dabble much myself. I decided it was time. The world of Faerun instantly pulled me in and hasn’t let me go since.
Baldur’s gate lead me down the path that would eventually lead me to meet the dark elf ranger Drizzt Do’Urdan. When I learned Drizzt was going to get his own game in the tabletop space following the novels I was excited; even so it was not until a couple years after the games release that I finally had the joy of picking up a copy and bringing it to the table. Before I jump into the game’s...
Tag Archives: movement
Worker Wednesday – Russian Railroads
Monday we looked at the mechanic of Worker Placement and we have thus far looked at two other worker placement games; Caverna and Lords of Waterdeep. In today’s installment of Worker Wednesday we will continue our journey into the land of meeple management as I review Russian Railroads!
The vitals
Released 2013
Designer: Helmut Ohley & Leonhard Orgler
Plays: 2-4
EPT: 120 minutes
Many of my gamer friends know I am a sucker for train games; be it the train rails system, Ticket to Ride, or the 18xx series I love locomotives. Partnered with my love for train games comes a love for Russia; this can be blamed on having lived in Russia for a year while growing up. When I thus learned to love worker placement games I knew I had to give Russian Rails...
Favorite Fridays – Dead of Winter
Zombies. Post apocalyptic conditions. Arctic cold. A group of survivors that have broken into sub groups following their own leaders with varied goals. These are all elements of a fantastic horror movies and shows; they are also all elements of this weeks installment of Favorite Fridays; Dead of Winter.
The vitals
Released 2014
Designer: Jonathan Gilmour & Isaac Vega
Plays: 2-5
EPT: 100 minutes
Dead of Winter is one of the few games I learned about well before its release; arguably since early on in its design thanks to the awesomeness that is The Plaid Hat Podcast (which I would highly recommend). I recall many days listening to the guys discuss the next game in the Vegian cannon; not City of Remnants 2 or an expansion, not another video game adaption like BioShock Infinite, but a new IP using...
Wild Card Thursday – Voice of the Mummy
Like most children I grew up familiar with Milton Bradley and their games. Sadly I was not familiar with their 1971 record player based game Voice of the Mummy until my cousin and co-host Sean introduced me to it many years into my gaming life. The idea of the game intrigued me as he explained it; I had heard of games that are soundtrack reliant, but a game from the 70s that was soundtrack reliant… that was shocking; especially when the soundtrack is on a plastic record!
The vitals
Released 1971
Designer: Unknown - released by Milton Bradley
Plays: 2-4
EPT: 30 minutes
As the game was explained to me I envisioned a giant old school record player sprouting out of a small game board with a candylandesque map. Then as I researched the game I was amazed at its...
Follow Up Tuesday – Pandemic
Yesterday we looked at the mechanic of the Action Point Allowance System; or APAS as no one calls it… today we will be following that up with a review of the Matt Leacock modern classic Pandemic.
The vitals
Released 2007
Designer: Matt Leacock
Plays: 2-4
EPT: 45 minutes
Pandemic is a co-operative game in which players act as members of the CDC working together to stop the spread of diseases across the globe. Players all start the game in Atlanta, Georgia; home of the Center of Disease Control before setting out to trot the globe and rid the world of these spreading diseases.
During setup each player is given a character, each character having unique abilities. The game ships with more characters than players thus making each game vary based upon which people are in play; each player also receives a...
Mechanic Monday – Action Point Allowance
Mechanic Monday Round 2! Last Monday I took a look at Hand Management and today we will shift our focus to Action Points, or as BGG calls it the ‘Action Point Allowance System’.
This is by no means a new mechanic or idea; BGG references 'Special Train' as the oldest game they have in their index using AP; tracing the mechanic back to the 1940s. As more games are released of course more games will utilize the mechanic while looking at it in new and varied ways. As of writing this the AP page on BGG has 2,308 games tagged as using the mechanic (note that counts expansions and the like)
I was first fully introduced to the concept of Action Points when playing what was, at the time, the new hotness; Pandemic. I had likely played...
Favorite Fridays – Arkham Horror
Let us journey back to the summer of 2011. My family is on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland in a condo a block from the beach. Those who know me well are aware I have 2 arch nemeses, one of which is the sun (a story for another time) and the other.. well we will discuss that later. I thus avoided the beach more often than not and withdrew to the comfort of the air conditioned condo to enjoy a book or game. My brother and my dad often joined me in this seclusion and we quickly turned to games to fill our time and it was thus that my brother introduced us to Arkham Horror.
The vitals
Released 2005 (remake of a game from 1987)
Designer: Richard Launius & Kevin Wilson
Plays: 1-8 (I’d recommend 4-5 and...
Wild Card Thursday – Fireball Island
Wild Card Thursday! Some men just want to watch the world burn; others just want to blog about whatever game they feel like. I am part of the latter group. Thursdays are a wild card I may take a look at a designer, a game, a mechanic, a convention, news in the industry, or some other crazy curveball. Today we look at the vintage cult classic Fireball Island.
The vitals
Released 1986
Designer: Chuck Kennedy & Bruce Lund
Plays: 2-4
EPT: 45 minutes
I was unfamiliar with the game until Sean had mentioned it could be a fun classic game for us to play and review at which point I started my research. The game at first glance appeared as a simple children's roll and move game and soon revealed itself to be so much more! (I have embedded our...
Zoophoria (6.75/10)
Brian, Sean, and Eric take a look at the game Zoophoria
Dungeons & Dragons: Inspiration, Spellcasting, and Movement
Part III of my voyage into 5E has arrived! And as promised this time we will look at spell casting, inspiration, and movement.
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Inspiration