Tag: Board Games

08/30/16

Mare Nostrum Empires (Academy Games) – First Look!

Picked up over the summer at Origins ~

Brant Guillory, 30 August 2016

Following a massively successful Kickstarter, and some shipping delays as the manufacture of components needed some tweaking, Academy’s reprint of Mare Nostrum, along with the expansions, finally started to get delivered.  Folks who attended Origins were able to pick them up there.  Hot damn!

MN-unbox-01

This gallery includes both the base game Empires (on the right) and the Atlas expansion (left)

Continue reading →

08/29/16

Tracer Rounds: The C2E2

Revisiting an older concept to reinvigorate the re-conversation ~

Brant, 29 August 2016

So, about 5-6 years ago, I started playing with an idea for a game/system.  The idea was a basic unified set of rules for current events conflicts, with regularly-released updates that would provide unit information and updated map details for the current world situation.  This would allow any player to just grab the current update, and “play forward” from there, to see how the various conflicts might shape up over the next few months or years.  When the next update rolled around, the players would have the option to either reset to the current world situation, or adapt the update to their own ongoing conflicts and continue an “alternate future” using the update components.

It’s not like I was breaking any really new ground with the idea, but I had a pretty high-minded concept for how I wanted it to happen, but got quite bogged down in the actual execution of it all.

What I’d like to do here is reopen the discussion and attempt to reinvigorate the participation in the development of the rules and current updates, in the hopes that many minds are smarter than mine, and we can collaboratively move forward on an open-source set of rules and initial process for putting these kinds of tools in the hands of gamers with an interest in current events.

Continue reading →

08/19/16

GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory #95

Plenty of tabletop gaming goodness for you this time ~

GrogHeads Staff, 19 August 2016

Swords & Sails (VR Soft)
$3k of $42k, ends 16 September 2016

Not even close to making funding – yet – this campaign just launched and includes options for a pretty cheap print-and-play-only copy, as well as a pledge level just for the metal coins included in the game. Yep, metal coins. It’s set in 1000AD, and allows 2-7 players to tackle rewriting the history of Europe as the French, Byzantines, Germans, Russians, or others. There’s an espionage mechanic that’s rare in a game like this, as well as your usual 4x goodness that let you build armies, fleets, cities, and more. Explore your way through their campaign page and see what you think.

g95-swordsSails

 

Continue reading →

07/8/16

A Place 2 Play tiles – First Look!

The Origins Award-winning accessory hits the table floor ~

Brant Guillory, 09 July 2016

What do the new geomorphic hex tiles look like in action?

click images to enlarge

We’re using some Mage Knight figures just for perspective.

This is a mix of meadows, paths, large trees, hedgerows, and edges.

The verdict?  Very cool and very easy to physically put together, but don’t do it on carpet (just like any other puzzle).

The challenge can be finding roads, hedgerows, and paths that link together well to actually move in the direction you want, or create the intersections you need.  Some of the graphics on the pieces don’t fit together quite as geomorphically as some wargamers will be used to.

Overall, if you’re going to set up a big terrain table for a larger battle, and have the time to put it all together, these are a great accessory.  If you’re going to try to change the map on the fly as you move from encounter to encounter in an RPG, you will want to spend some prep time making sure you have all the tiles you need and that you know how you want them all to fit together.

Chat about it below, or in our forums, or hit our FaceBook page >>

07/2/16

GrogHeads Reviews Quartermaster General: Air Marshal Expansion

What’s in the first expansion from Griggling Games’ epic WWII game? ~

Michael Eckenfels, 30 June 2016

click images to enlarge

QMG-AM-1 Cover

In June of 2015, I reviewed a unique board game called Quartermaster General. Ian Brody designed a rather unique game, in that where most World War II games add logistics almost as a second thought to their game’s mechanics, Quartermaster General instead made logistics the centerpiece. Players would draw and husband cards to play to place armies in connecting countries, and navies in connecting ocean spaces, to conquer and deny territory to the other players. It brought a lot of chess-like qualities to a World War II-themed game, and was quite enjoyable. The game is very easy to teach; the task of knowing the timing of card play is its most challenging aspect, and really the heart of the fun of the game (as you can play cards for yourself, but you can also interrupt others’ play, too!).

(Ed note: we also talked with the designer at Origins!)

Continue reading →