Tag: Board Games

06/16/13

Origins Announces Award Winners

Straight from the show, here are last night’s winners of the 2013 Origins Awards, with the press release from GAMA:

COLUMBUS, OH (June 15, 2013) The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design is proud to announce the winners for the 39th Annual Origins Awards.
The Origins Awards are presented annually by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design to recognize outstanding achievement in design and production of games and game-related products.
The winners were voted on by attendees at the Origins Game Fair in Columbus, OH on June 12th – June 16th from the nominees in each category chosen by retailers at the GAMA Trade Show. The winners were announced at the Origins Awards Ceremony on the evening of Saturday, June 15th.
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06/16/13

Origins 2013 – Some Highlights

By Brant Guillory, 15 June 2013

The Lighting-Fast Run Through Origins 2013

Seven hours.  Yep – seven.  That’s all I had to cram in as much of Origins as I possibly could.  I had one day, a press pass, a borrowed digital camera, and Bayonet Jr in tow, and it was a mad dash through a pretty freakin’ big game convention.  Plenty more pictures will follow, but I wanted to start with some highlights…

Collins Epic Wargames

We highlighted one of their upcoming expansions in a recent GARPA column, and the Frontline General game is the cornerstone of Byron’s line.  But he was also showing off a sci-fi minis game with a nifty little command mechanic.

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Byron Collins working hard

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Frontline General in the foreground, and sci-fin minis coolness (Polyversal) in the background

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06/13/13

Thunderbolt Apache Leader AAR

Publisher: Dan Verssen Games

Author: Jim Zabek

I’ve had my eye on Thunderbolt-Apache Leader for a long time. Designed for solo play, it’s a modern era wargame where the player takes on the role of Close Air Support (CAS). Several campaigns are included in the game, and given the random nature of opposition force selection the possibilities are nearly endless.

As this is my first time with Thunderbolt-Apache Leader I start with the introductory scenario: the 1991 Iraq War campaign. Setting up the defending Iraqi units was straight forward but when it came time to choose my own forces I have to slow down and assess the options before me. I have a total of 30 Special Option (SO) points. SO points are spent purchasing aircraft but they are also used on other Special Conditions and Mission Events. Deciding how much to invest in aircraft and how much to hold back is a mystery to me, though I have followed JudgeDredd’s AAR in our forums with interest so I do have a sense that I should keep at least a handful back for later use. With 26 SO points in total, I decided I’ll aim for spending 20 points on planes and see how close I come to hitting that mark.

Thunderbolt Apache Leader June 2013 Start
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05/27/13

GARPA 19 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

Back by popular demand, the boys from GARPA are hard at it again bringing you all the crowd funding projects to empty your wallets. While the working conditions might not be the best and we are still waiting on that that funding grant from management, we still think we have a pretty cool job finding all sorts of great games and projects for you, our cherished readers. And now while we wipe the brown off our noses, enjoy the column!

Board Games and Miniatures

CCNormandy-1(RBM)

Enemy Coast Ahead: The Dambuster Raid by GMT Games

P500 – Not yet – Orders to Date: 240

In honor of Mayviation we bring you another aviation-themed boardgame in the throes of development. Enemy Coast Ahead covers the British 617 Squadron and their WWII mission, Operation Chastise. Operation Chastise was aimed at destroying three German dams that contained important reservoirs used by German industry to produce much of its war material. The task was never an easy one and even forced the creation of a special “bouncing bomb” to help the munitions reach their intended targets. Now GMT brings us a game that puts you in the shoes of the “Dambusters.”
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05/10/13

GARPA 18 – GrogHeads Advanced Research on Projects Advisory

GARPA #18

Authors: Dan Pinkham and Lloyd Sabin

May 10, 2013

Spring is well under way even though we are still freezing are butts off here in the northeast at night. Which makes for a good excuse for gaming instead of being outside. Also there’s a plague of locusts coming to the region as well. You definitely don’t want to be outside then. See, we here at GARPA not only alert you to the best new crowd funded games coming to your desktop and PC…we also give you plenty of excuses for not going outside and reserving more time for gaming. Who loves you?

PC Games

Son of Nor by StillAlive Studios

$34,121 pledged of $150,000, funding ends at 5:17am on Thursday, May 30

Kickstarter18SonOfNor

Son of Nor is planned as a 3rd-person, fantasy-themed ARPG that will be playable in either single- or multiplayer coop mod, with up to four players cooperating online or through a split screen. The game takes place in the desert-world of Noshrac (not Horshack) where the player is thrown into conflict against desert-dwelling beasts and an army of warriors called Sarahul. To be the best fighter possible, the player will need to explore the game world and take advantage of strategically placed temples and avoid traps in order to advance…in other words, solve puzzles to improve magical combat abilities.
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