My Marvel Heroes story...and I have not even played it

Monday I was wondering around the stores that surround the Sandford Mall and I came across a game that I had quickly dismissed when it first was released, Fantasy Flight’s Marvel Heroes. It simply looked to similar to Wizkid’s Heroclix and there were other board games that I would rather spend $60 on. Now, almost two years latter I find myself rediscovering Marvel Heroes on the Books-A-Million discount shelf for a mere twenty dollars. I picked up the relatively heavy box and flipped it over to examine the back of the box. Was this game worth $20? Well, it is a Fantasy Flight game and in my experience they make high quality games, which play great and contain superior components. It comes with 20 pre-painted superhero miniatures…I could always give those to my son if this game just stinks. Despite these thoughts I place the game back on the shelf and continue browsing the book store. Soon I returned to the discount shelf and reexamined the game. No I really don’t want this game. Once more I put the game down and walked away. After repeating this process three or four times I finally decided, “What the Hell, 20 bucks isn’t even a half a tank of gas”.

After buying the game and making my way to John’s apartment we opened my new treasure. The components were the highest quality (as expected). My only complaint is the hero’s are designed all wearing costumes strait out of 1983 or so. Then I began to scan the rules as we began our Risk game. My first thought was “Great! A Fantasy Flight rule book that is under 50 pages” (It is only 16) but hen I began to read it. Worst written rulebook ever! Apparently this game was originally designed in Europe (French?) and I’m sure that it is a great game however; I think the rulebook was translated by drunken monkeys. I believe that John wants to play this game relatively soon but, It is extremely unlikely that we will play this game anytime soon simply because I cannot get past page 4 of the rules (this with the first two pages being credits and a list of components). At least I have a great looking box to add to my game shelf (read as pack rat happy). It can really make your week to get a great deal on a new game.

Another Monday night

Last night at Nate’s and John’s we played what I consider one of the most balanced three player board games, Original Trilogy Star Wars Risk. Most three player board games quickly become two versus on affairs that are not particularly fun for the guy that ends up fighting against two opponents. This is not true in Original Trilogy Star Wars Risk because each player has a unique victory condition that prevents the dreaded two on one match-up. To win the game the Rebel Alliance player (Nate) has to find and destroy the Emperor, the Empire (John) has to destroy every last solder in the Rebel, and the Hut player (Me) has to take control of 10 out of the 13 resource planets.

Like most games of Risk this was a quick and violent game (What else would you do in a game only about war). Nate secured the Outer Rim in the first turn and I conquered a small sector at the bottom of the board. We both made these areas strongholds that we could use as bases of operations. Meanwhile John took over the core world zone and began to viciously attack Nate. It seemed like John would get a quick win but he overextend his forces and Nate was able to launch a counter attack that about knocked John out of the game. Meanwhile, I slowly built my empire by conquering one territory a turn from both Nate and John. Eventually, I saw my chance and was able to take over the last resource planet that I needed when Nate did not notice that I could make a chain of attacks to take it (in a roundabout way). It was a good game overall and is a great excuse to use all of those Star Wars quotes that you know. My only complaint is that I’m ready to play as either the Empire or the Rebellion in one of these games.

After we were done with Risk we began to play Magic. We only got in one game that John easily won (Revenge for star Wars?). I was killed first and never really stood a chance but I was hoping that Nate would be able to pull out a win (Sorry John but I hate your Magic Decks….yes ALL OF THEM).

The Calm before the Storm

It’s been a slow few weeks for gaming (the closest thing to gaming I’ve been able to do is play fantasy football), but it looks like starting next week things will really be picking up. Monday should be another board-game night down at Nate’s and John’s place and Decks & Duels is starting the newest campaign season for Warmachine. Hopefully I’ll be able to give weekly updates on the campaign for the next eight weeks. If you want to learn more about Privateer Press’ upcoming campaign season check it out here:
http://www.privateerpress.com/dispatch/08-tours/main.php?tour=4&week=1&lang=en

Without anything else to report, I’ve decided to list my top three podcast. With all the driving that I do I have become quite the podcast aficionado (you can only listen to FM radio so much) and I would suggest anyone with access to iTunes check these out.

1) The d6 Generation – This is the best all-around (and possibly most entertaining) gamer podcast. It covers all types of gaming but tends to focus on board games and (to a lesser extent) miniature war-games. The podcast is full of great information and reminds me of listing to a few of your gaming buddies talking about what they think about the latest games. I would actually suggest people go back and listen to this podcast from the beginning of the series.
2) Podhammer – The first and best Fantasy Warhammer podcast. This show is based out of Australia and is basically a couple mates getting together and talking about their favorite pastime. Jeff and crew are very entertaining and give out great information about how to play the different armies in the game along with basic game strategies. Just like the d6 Generation listening to this show reminds me of overhearing conversations that you might hear down at your local gaming store (as long as your local gaming store is in Australia). I sugest that you skip the first four episodes of this podcast because the sound quality in them is horrible. The highest compliment I can play to this podcast is it makes me want to go out and play Warhammer.
3) Real Time with Bill Maher – I know that this is not a gaming podcast but it is very entertaining. By know means does this show provide a balance view of current events and politics (read as very far left) but it is very funny. It is especially nice for people who do not have HBO (as the podcast is free).
Honorable mention:
a) This week in wargaming – A similar format as the d6 Generation but it is not as entertaining or as well put together. Still worth listing to just not on the level of my first three.
b) Fell Calls! – Has great information on the Privateer Press miniature games but the hosts seem to be surprisingly uninterested in what they are talking about most of the time (making it a hard listen at times)

Turn Signal on a Land Raider

Turn Signal on a Land Raider (sometimes simply referred to as TSOALR) is a bi-weekly comic about a group of space marines, The Emperors Pointy Sticks, and their antics on the game-table. The author of this comic, Steve Campbell, came up with the name for this comic when he noticed that GW Land Raider model has a turn signal on the front of the model but not on the back (therefore the only people that know which way a Land Raider is turning are the enemy in front of you). The comic is done in the tradition of newspaper comics and is a great parody of the 40k universe, the game itself, and even the 40k players. Like many newspaper comics this strip can be hit or miss, but it is my opinion that this strip has a lot more hits than misses. I have really enjoyed the first 150 strips and I suggest that anyone interested in this strip start reading it from the beginning (just make sure you hang in for the first 30 or so). If you want to read the strip from the beginning simply go to the main sight, http://tsoalr.com/, and press the link that is located under the most current strip and labeled as “first”. Personally I plan on working my way through the whole series but that might take a while since the most current strip is the 534th strip.

Battleship Express

I just finished playing three games of Battleship Express with my nine year old son. This game is loosely based on the classic Parker Brothers game Battleship, but uses dice and cards instead of the traditional plastic maps and ship modules. The game mechanics are very simplistic and has very little strategy. In fact, about ninety percent of the game is dependent on pure luck (Pray to those dice gods). Battleship Express could be played by most children at an even earlier age than the game suggest (The suggested ages for the game is 7 to adult).
We played three quick games in about twenty-five minutes, with Torin wining all three of the games that we played. He was very excited about winning all three of these games. This is a perfect game for us to break out when he wants to play a game but we only have about twenty minutes. I would highly recommend this game to anyone with young children that want to roll some dice and play a game with Daddy. However, if your looking for a game to play with your gamer buddies, look somewhere else.

Monday night gameing pt.2

After finishing our game of Nexus Ops, we decided to play a game of Settlers of Catan. Surprising, Ricky was the person that talked the rest of us into playing. This is surprising because Ricky normally only wants to play games in which he gets to “kill stuff”. John had never played the game and it had been a long time since the rest of us had played so set up was slow and I had to read over the rules for a while. Luckily, John ordered Pizza so at lest we could eat while we took a “rule break”. It soon became obvious that this was just not Nate's night. His bad luck continued during this game and it even seemed to rub off onto John. Neither of them was ever able to get the resources that they needed and they quickly fell behind both Ricky and me. Ricky has gotten a lot better at these games and is no longer the guy that we could always count on self-destructing. He basically dominated this game and won easily.

Monday night gameing pt.1

The first game that we played Monday night was Avalon Hill’s Nexus Ops. I purchased this game over a year ago when the local Toys R Us placed it on clearance for $9.99. After transporting my new treasure home, I quickly opened the box, made sure that all the game pieces were in the box, and then placed it on a shelf in the back of my “man room”, where it soon began to collect dust. Our gaming group finally decided to play Nexus Ops because we wanted to play a “light war-game” that was not Axis and Allies. Over all, we were not disappointed in the game-play (which was very similar to Axis and Allies), but Nate was not thrilled with some of the games random set-up mechanics. Nate would command the green team, John choose the red forces, Rick ran with the blue army, and I was Yellow.

Turn 1:

We all slowly probed our forces out from our starting areas. I had the most success by discovering three areas that contained resources. Unfortunately for Nate, he was already at a disadvantage by the end of round one. He was the only player that did not discovered a space that contained new resources and he was feeling threatened by both John’s and my forces.

Turn 2:

John and Ricky continue to successfully build up their armies and to claim more territories. Nate launches a vicious sneak attack on my armies. He almost wiped out my army but one valiant rock spider held on, denying Nate an easy victory. Nate also claims the last resorce space on the board

Turn 3:

John continues to consolidate his position. Ricky claims the spire with a force of “rock spiders” and begins to gain the combat advantage cards. After mocking the two pacifist players, Nate and I continue knocking the crap out of each other. At the end of the turn our combat is still going with my army just barely holding on with a “lava slug”.

Turn 4: John and Rick begin troop build ups on their boarders. Neither of them have yet to fight a battle, but John is threatening Ricky’s dominance of the spire. I finally outflank Nate taking one of his home bases and win our long running battle. Nate retakes his base but much of his army has now been destroyed.

Turn 5:

John finally attacks Nate in an attempt to conquer a resource rich territory. Nate holds on but I enter the battle with a force of “Rock Spiders” making it a three way fight. I kill John and Nate retreats. Ricky is now the only player to not engage in combat but he continues to dominate the spire.

Turn 6:

Ricky goes to WAR!!! After John counter attacks my forces, Ricky attack John in two places. He wins outright in one of the combats and digs in for a long fight in the other territory. I retreat away from John’s army during my turn and consolidate my forces for an attack on the spire. Nate builds up his army in an attempt to get back into the fight.

Turn 7:
Ricky and John continue to duke it out. John wins the larger battle, destroying many of Ricky’s expensive units. Ricky breaks through John’s lines near the spire and takes over two of John’s resource territories. I take advantage of the situation a destroy Johns forces that I had retreated from the turn before. Nate begins to move a large army toward his old resource producing territory.

Turn 8 & 9:
During these two turns everyone turns on Ricky. I take the spire, and both John and Nate conquer resource territories from him. We all have large armies now but I have a large advantage in victory points. I quickly maneuver my forces into place so that I can score quick victory points and pull out a win.