Fantasy Flight is KILLING ME!

by Firestone So...we all know the dangers of CCGs, right? It's not called cardboard crack for nothing, after all...

Then along come LCGs: Living Card Games that release noncollectible, predictable packs every few months. "Oh, this I can handle," I think to myself.

Myself was very, very wrong.

Fantasy Flight Games just announced YET ANOTHER bigger expansion for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game: The Black Riders.

"A fantastic adventure awaits you! With The Black Riders, you and your friends will accompany Frodo Baggins as he begins his epic journey to destroy the One Ring. Three new scenarios carry you out of the Shire and along the road to Rivendell, but you must be wary. The Nine are abroad, the lure of the Ring is difficult to resist, and your every action has a meaningful consequence…

The Black Riders recreates a selection of dramatic event as told in the first half of J.R.R Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. It is the first of a series of Saga expansions that eventually will allow players to replay Frodo's epic journey from the Shire to Mount Doom, as well the dramatic events experienced by other members of the Fellowship."

I thought I was doing an okay job of keeping up with this game. But I blink and suddenly I'm three Saga Expansions behind—The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill, The Hobbit: On the Doorstep, and The Heirs of Numenor. And now this new one. Plus a new adventure pack—The Steward's Fear—just came out.

How long is this model tenable? I'm a fan and I'm falling behind. I can't have every single gaming dollar go toward this game. What about Netrunner?! And what about the other cool games out there?! If these start going out of print, and I fall behind with no financially feasible hope of catching up, I'll just stop buying altogether.

This has already happened with the Game of Thrones LCG. I'm interested, but so much of it is out of print that there's no way I'm going to bother trying to jump in now. What must it look like to someone coming to LotR: The Card Game brand new? "There's how much stuff for this? Nevermind..."

Adventure Maximus! Need We Say More?

by Jeremiah Kickstarter featured a campaign yesterday that really caught our attention, and while we will be doing our regular Kickstarter weekly post tomorrow, we couldn't help but write about this campaign today!

Adventure Maximus, is a quick-playing RPG for...KIDS! The campaign touts that characters are created in 2 minutes, and the kids can not only play the game, but they can be the game master and run the game!

Normally we don't cover RPGs here on TOG, but the concept of there being an RPG for the kids has really caught our attention. It seems to be very appropriately themed for the youngsters as well. Nothing too creepy or scary—the goblins are known for eating waffles, etc. I (Jeremiah) am certainly not the biggest RPG fan in the world, but Adventure Maximus seems to take the fun elements of the genre and package them in a kid-friendly way. (Creativity, story telling, team work, using your imagination!)

The campaign is cruising along, and for $15 you can get a print-and-play version of the game, or for $35 you can score a physical copy along with all the stretch goals they hit.

Definitely worth taking a look at this one, which you can do RIGHT HERE!

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Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation: The Reprint!

by Firestone  

Good news, fans of awesome 2-player games! Fantasy Flight just announced that they're reprinting the Reiner Knizia game Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation. I talked about this game way back in August when Jeremiah and I posted about our favorite 2-player games. I lamented the fact that it was out-of-print, but it's coming back later this year!

It’s similar to Stratego, in that you have pieces that only face you, so your opponent’s not sure who’s who. Each piece is a character, and each character has special abilities. The good guys are trying to get Frodo across the board to Mordor, and the bad guys are trying to kill Frodo. Superb game.

Here are the differences in the new edition—from the press release:

• The rulebook contains additional clarifications to make the game even more accessible and easy to play.
• This compact new edition features bridge-sized cards, as well as scaled down character stands and tiles, with new character cards to serve as reminders of character abilities. The game board now has visual reminders, such as character limit indicators and darker mountain borders, to help clarify play.
• It features stunning new artwork for variant game Fellowship characters, as well as for several cards.

I don't particularly like the fact that the tiles won't have the special power text on them anymore, but at least you'll be able to play the game again! Save some money in the budget for this one—or add it to your Christmas list.

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Bad News for Terra Mystica

by Firestone I'm a fan of many of Z-Man Games' games, but sometimes their business practices just baffle me. (The fact that the second Pandemic expansion will be completely incompatible with my "old" edition still upsets me. If they think I'm buying a whole new set of the game and the first expansion to get that second one, they're out of their minds. Yeah, I know I can buy two compatibility packs, and they didn't have to offer that at all, but still... Grumble, grumble, grumble...)

Anyway, Z-Man has been posting EVERYWHERE about their highly anticipated new game Terra Mystica: Boardgamegeek ads, numerous posts on their Facebook page, over and over and over. Then, in the comments below an April 29th post about how the game is almost here, Sophie Gravel posted, "Guys, here is the very simple story. Terra Mystica oversold by approximately 100% of our print run. By the time the pre-orders were received from our distributors, the games were already printed and on our way to us so there was no way for us to adjust with a higher quantity. Another print run has been ordered and is scheduled to arrive at the end of the summer. Thank you for your understanding and making this game such a success!"

How is that in any way a professional way to announce that you screwed up? And it appears online game stores didn't get any sort of heads-up about this until they received their smaller-than-expected shipments of the game. It's just one more questionable practice from a company I'm increasingly disappointed in—even though I love their games.

So if you see a copy of Terra Misstica Mystica on the shelves of your FLGS for a reasonable price, you might want to snatch it up. And then mail it to me... :)

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Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game—Wave 3 Announced!

by Firestone Well, the big news over the weekend was Fantasy Flight's announcement of Wave 3 for the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game!

The B-Wing and Tie Bomber were somewhat expected—at least those were the names thrown around whenever I would talk to someone about Wave 3. According to the press release, "Each B-wing can be outfitted with a system upgrade, a cannon, and up to two torpedoes, including the hard-hitting Advanced Proton Torpedoes. These short-range torpedoes can only fire at enemies within Range 1, but with its five shields and ability to barrel roll, the B-wing is built to get up close and personal in even the thickest of combats." Sound like these guys are going to be hard to take out!

"Each TIE bomber is capable of carrying two torpedoes, two missiles, and one bomb. Accordingly, the expansion’s five upgrade cards present you with a wide array of armaments, including the punishing Proton Bombs, which deal one faceup damage card to each ship within Range 1 when they detonate, even bypassing any shields the ship might have." I have a feeling I'm going to hate the bomber. And also love the bomber.

But what about the other two ships?!

Well first is the Lambda-class shuttle. "This starship expansion includes four ship cards, featuring three unique pilots who can each provide powerful benefits to their squad mates. As an example, Captain Kagi can divert enemy target locks from your other ships and force your opponent to fire against his shuttle and its five shields."

The last ship is the first ship from the Expanded Universe: the HWK-290, which first appears in the awesome mid-90s shooter Dark Forces. "[It] comes with four ship cards for a Rebel Operative and three unique pilots, including the renowned Kyle Katarn, who can assign his focus tokens to friendly ships within Range 1–3. Additionally, each HWK-290 can be outfitted with a turret weapon and a crew member, and the expansion provides you with six upgrade options, including the unique Moldy Crow title card, representing Kyle Katarn’s signature starship."

This wave also introduces a new upgrade called the System Upgrade. It allows you to control some of the dice rolls and unpredictability in the game.

All of this is set to release in the third quarter of this year, and I imagine they'll want this out in time for GenCon in mid August. We'll see, but either way, we're completely excited about this news. Which ship looks coolest to you? How do you feel about them delving into the Expanded Universe?

Thanks for reading!

Eclipse is Out on the iPad!

by Firestone Overnight, the very popular science-fiction conquest game went live on the iPad—it's called Eclipse: New Dawn for the Galaxy. Eclipse is a 4X game—eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. It's made by Big Daddy's Creations, who did a slick job with their iOS version of Neuroshima Hex. By all accounts, this game is just as slick. The price is $6.99—which is much, much cheaper than the physical version. At some point it will almost certainly go on sale (I picked up their Neuroshima Hex game on a sale a year ago). It does have an AI, and it does have pass-and-play and asynchronous multiplayer—and it supports up to six players.

In addition, it has seven species, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. And there's an in-game tutorial to help you get started.

I've played the physical version, and it's a lot of game. If you like space-conquest games at all, consider checking out Eclipse.

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TableTop Joins The Resistance!

By Firestone A number of months ago we told you about TableTop, Wil Wheaton's Internet board game show. Well, the latest show has them playing my favorite game: The Resistance. If you've wondered what is so great about this game, this is a great chance to watch a group of people actually playing. You'll see paranoia, accusations, mistakes, subterfuge, and all of the others things that make me love this game so much—and they aren't even particularly good at it! Be aware: They do occasionally curse. Some of the "big ones" are bleeped out. Others aren't.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QRczGzXqw]

Tzolk'in is Gett'in an Expans'ion!

My (Firestone) favorite game of last year was Tzolk'in—a fascinating worker-placement game with a cool set of gears in the middle of the board. You can read my review right here.

Well, a report out of The Gathering of Friends—an exclusive, invitation-only week of boardgaming in New York—has revealed that there's an expansion in the works. I can't wait!!

  Get your copy of Tzolk'in on Amazon here.

Kickstarter Weekly

Welcome to Kickstart Weekly! We're toying around with the schedule for this post so today, you get it on a Saturday! Enjoy! Coup - The Resistance - Indie Boards and Cards is currently launching a Resistance themed version of Coup, a card game of bluffing, and deception! If you've been reading TOG for any amount of time you know that we're big fans of The Resistance titles and are looking forward to yet another addition to the franchise! Check out the campaign here, you can jump in and get a copy of the game fairly inexpensively!

Greater Than Games - Galactic Strike Force: The Cooperative Deck Building Game The same folks who brought you Sentinels of the Multiverse are bringing you another deckbuiler, this one is set in a sci-fi universe in which players are working together towards a common goal. The game looks cool, and GTG has a great track record of bringing quality games to market. Follow this link for their Kickstarter Campaign.

Ares Games - Galaxy Defenders, a co-op miniatures game. Another sci-fi co-op game, this time using miniatures players will fend off an intergalactic invasion! The miniature prototypes displayed on the campaign are looking slick! We don't usually cover miniatures games, but this one looks like it breaks out of the typical genre box. You'll find out more right here.

Pixel Lincoln Playing Cards Funded!! Our good friend Jason Tagmire and his pixelated pal along with the good folks over at Game Salute, have done it again, the Pixel Lincoln themed Bicycle deck has funded and they managed to knock off a few stretch goals along the way! Congrats, to Jason, Game Salute, and Pixel Lincoln! Find out more here! And read our most recent interview with Jason here!

Following up: Machine of Death -

This game crushed it's campaign bringing in over half a million! A big congrats to David Malki and the gang for hitting another home run with their twisted concept of fate, and death. Best of luck! See what the hub-bub is about right here! And read our interview with David right here.

Thanks so much for reading, and have a great weekend everyone! If you want more fun and info from TOG check us out on Facebook and Twitter!

More Smash Up, X-Wing Tiles, and Free Stuff from Mayfair!

Alderac has officially unofficially announced today that there will be yet another expansion for the hit Paul Peterson title Smash Up, releasing in August. It will feature 4 new factions taking on the same format as Awesome Level 9000. With a few twists. From Alderac's Facebook page: There have already been a lot of questions about more Smash Up, so we'll let you know there is another set of 4 factions coming in August! For the first time, this set has an overall theme running through the factions. Each is distinct, with its own focus mechanically and visually, but there is a common thread that runs through all of them. Speculate away! We interviewed designer Paul Peterson a few months ago, you can check out our interview and see if he left any clues for us on this third expansion...

Fantasy Flight has announced that they are releasing a Tile/Battlefield kit for their X-Wing Miniatures game. The set comes with 12 tiles each measuring a square foot, and featuring iconic locations in the Star Wars Universe. They look slick, and appear to offer a great, and FLAT, surface to hold your battles on! Check out the photo we've included. And you can see the official info on Fantasy Flight's site here.

And finally the deadline is quickly approaching to enter Mayfair's giveaway for a prototype copy of the new Catan expansion Explorers & Pirates! Go follow this link to enter; it's easy!

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