Category: Unboxing

08/19/15

Tank on Tank – First Look!

LNLP reboots the Tank on Tank franchise with 2 new boxed games

Brant Guillory, 19 August 2015

Click images to enlarge

Lock’n’Load Publishing has brought back the Tank on Tank franchise, with the long-awaited East Front stand-alone game to accompany the previous version, now labeled as West Front.  What’s in the boxes?  Lessee…

The boxes are the standard LNLP "thin" boxes, which stack nicely on the game shelf alongside all their others.
The boxes are the standard LNLP “thin” boxes, which stack nicely on the game shelf alongside all their others.

edit: to clarify, when referring to the standard LNLP “thin” box, we’re referring to the height of the box, and not the thickness of the actual box material.  These things are pretty substantial, but are only about 1″ high.  They are not the paper-thin tuck boxes of LNLP days gone by.

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07/31/15

DVG’s Tiger Leader – First Look!

There’s plenty of chatter on the new release from DVG.  Michael shows us what’s in the box!

Michael Eckenfels, 31 July 2015

The DVG ‘Leader’ series is really going gangbusters. Phantom Leader, Hornet Leader, Tiger Leader…plus numerous others. The demand is out there, and DVG keeps churning out good products so far (the three I mention, I own, with Tiger Leader just arriving on my doorstep). I’ve not played anything outside of the ‘Air’ Leader series…back in the day (early 90s to be specific), I loved playing the original Thunderbolt/Apache Leader by GMT, which I know DVG has also done. (I’ll be going after them in a month or two to see if I can get a copy of that one to see how it has changed.)

This particular game – Tiger Leader – according to the back of the box, “places you in command of a German Kapmpfgruppe in the most decisive campaigns of WWII!” I’ve seen the Let’s Play videos that DVG posted on YouTube discussing this game, and even with pre-production artwork it looked pretty good. I can’t wait to get this to the table to see how it plays. Watching is one thing…playing, something entirely different!

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The box in all its glory. There’s something rather cathartic about getting a brand new board game. A nice heavy mailing box, nice solid product inside, shrunk-wrapped and pristine. It’s like my woobie or something.

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07/1/15

Hornet Leader – First Look!

 Unboxing DVG’s Hornet Leader

Michael Eckenfels, 1 July 2015

The arrival of Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operations (hereafter referred to has simply Hornet Leader) at my doorstep was something I was greatly looking forward to. For one, I was a HUGE fan and player of the original Thunderbolt/Apache Leader game, from 1991 when it was made by GMT. I absolutely loved being in control of my own squadron of Warthogs and Apaches and taking out targets in modern air-to-ground (and sometimes, air-to-air) combat.

I’ve head good things about Hornet Leader, but don’t really know what to expect as the game seems more balanced between air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. There’s also a choice between playing a US Navy campaign or a US Marine Corps campaign.

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The game box is huge, probably close to two inches thick and with a bookcase-sized height and width. It’s very nicely designed, though personally, I’m not a huge fan of the F/A-18 Hornet. Rather, I’m more excited about the possibility of controlling F-14 Tomcats and A-6 Intruders. This game will let you do those, and many more.

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06/10/15

Star Wars Imperial Assault – First Look!

Michael Eckenfels, 10 June 2015

So the shrink-wrap is cracked and pieces are out.  Is it Jar-Jar Binks, or Boba Fett?

It was with GREAT anticipation that I received a copy of Star Wars Imperial Assault by Fantasy Flight Games. This and Star Wars: Armada are two of three games I’ve really wanted for the last year or so (Fortune and Glory being the third), and when the heavy box arrived from Amazon, it felt like Christmas morning. Don’t get me wrong – I love getting games, and goodness knows I get lots of them in the course of the reviews and AARs I write, but this is Star Wars, man.

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The box, in all its shrink-wrapped glory. It is almost six inches thick and weighs a ton, which just testifies to the goodies loaded inside.

 

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The back of the box. Hard to believe that there used to be a time where this backside of a box was pretty much your only source of knowledge when you came across a game on a shelf somewhere.

 

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