Josh’s PAX 2011 Trip

September 4, 2011 – 1:55 am

My 2011 Trip to PAX:
or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Line
By Josh Brown

    I had first traveled to the Penny Arcade eXpo (or PAX) in 2009, as one of my friends had luckily snagged some three-day passes. It was an utter joy to attend, and mementos like the Dolby Axon stickers on my laptop still remind me of how awesome that was. I didn’t quite have enough to make it to PAX last year, but kicked myself as the Back to the Future game was being promoted with a tricked out, BTTF style Delorean(!!!) among other mind-blowing events. So when this year rolled around, I tried to get not one, but two tickets (conventions are not as fun alone) and by the time I had the money, it was Sunday badges or nothing. 

    Seventy dollars and almost three months later, I had two Sunday badges, and I so eager was I to go that when Sunday came, I left hours earlier and arrived just before 9 am. While the Expo hall (as well as the Paramount and Sheraton) wasn’t letting anyone into their PAX events before 10 am, a swathe of nerds stretched out before me in Line 3. As I sat amongst them, geek girl and guy, gamers galore, I opened my swag bag, which had a sheaf of advertisements (e.g. World of Warcraft Booster Pack: $10 only, here at PAX! Come see us at the Skybridge!) a t-shirt from NicoNico.com, a M:tG starter deck (Black) and a fortune cookie. To entertain us, they inflated enormous beach balls with OnLive on them, and we batted them back and forth while Jonathan Coulton music played. Then an OnLive Spokesperson started talking about how you could obtain an OnLive console free(!!) at their booth, and if they ran out you could get one sent to you at the cost of S&H (which is what I ended up doing later). My day was planned out, or so I thought, but then perusing the PAX book that was also handed out, I realized that the first item on my list, Halo 4, was at the Paramount, and I’d never make it in time (also I got a lanyard for Sonic CD in line, so I was feeling pretty happy).

    They released us, finally, into the thrumming Expo Hall, dominated by FireFall – the Free-To-Play MMO that had sponsored so much of expo that there were lithographs on the escalators and bathroom mirrors. No, seriously. As I tore away, I ran to the Gamespot booth (not to be confused with Gamestop) which was giving away free t-shirts with a faux nametag that said “Hello, my [gamertag] is” with a spot for your name/tag. After this I moved further back (passing “Killer Nuns” and “A Space Shooter”) to a line forming along the wall. When I asked, the people waiting said it was for Borderlands 2(!) so I jumped into line. And so the real waiting began, because unlike my hour before, I had nothing to really distract me, and a whole expo hall to tempt me. As we slowly moved along, the Rage cage (promoting the Bethesda game RAGE) pulled in various people and had them scream, and if they filled the meter to 100, they were entered into a contest for a free laptop from Dell. Their answers to “What fills you with rage?” were hilarious: “White people”, “Free hugs”, “My Little Pony”, and “Mean People” to name a few. But the best part of this long wait was that the guy next to me had a folding camping chair, so instead of standing and being uncomfortable, I got to sit a lot. And when he knocked over a coffee cup someone had left on the floor by the wall(?), he held my spot as I ran to dump it in the trash. Along the way, I picked up a Gamespot collapsible water bottle (seriously cool) and as I ran up, folding chair dude vouched for my spot in line and proved he was truly a saint among sinners. The preview for Borderlands 2 was great – it’s all in Game Informer, though, in a bit greater detail than I can post. My favorite bits? Disposable gun – a gun that instead of reloading, you throw away, it explodes, and a new one with a full clip rematerializes in your hand. Full environments – from atop the dam, Pandora spreads out below you, and you can visit everything you see. And dynamic quests: The objectives change as you go, making them less fetchy and more engaging. Oh, and the Gunzerker flipping off the W4R-D3N bot that had just knocked him off the dam. Awesome? Awesome.

    After that, it was a quick walk down to the Paramount Theater, where Star Wars: The Old Republic was going to be shown off again. I was hoping for more free swag (Bioware had given out KotoR codes in ’09 and ToR shirts in ’10) but to cut that short, no. They gave hats to random people in line, and to people who asked questions, but no dice for the other people. I won’t bore you with waiting in the sun, but the World of Tanks promotional tank was parked across from us, and lots of people took pictures with it, including a guy dressed up as The Tick. Once inside, I snagged a seat and my sister (the other badge holder, who arrived super late) came and took the seat next to me. We cheered as they retreaded such things as “Why is ToR different from other MMOs? Because we focus on story so much! Tons of voices! SO MANY VOICES! Do you like David “Solid Snake” Hayter? Play a Jedi! Do you like Jennifer “FemShepard” Hale? Play as the trooper!” and so on. BUT, the main highlights were seeing everyone grouped up for the epic Operations (aka a Raid) where 6 lucky people from the audience got to come on-stage and rock all the different Dark Side classes (Including Sith Juggernaut and Bounty Hunter) and then some talk of Open-World PVP servers was had before Q+A was opened up. Stuff to note: Character Customization is somewhere between KotOR’s preset heads, and Mass Effect’s sliders. In short, there are presets for all the slider stuff (hairstyles, noses, eyes, etc) which is pretty good. Also, the gear doesn’t determine the level, the mods you put into it does. No more groups of identical people in the same gear, you can wear your Sandpeople mask, Stormtrooper armor, and Twi’lek dancer thong and still be at peak performance!

    After that, my cousin had mention on my Facebook status that he was working at HaloFest, and since my PAX badge came with a free admission into HaloFest, I totally went! It was totally amazing, as if they’d created an expo booth and stretched it out as far as possible. What does that mean? All sorts of glass displays with figurines, authentic items, tons of consoles playing LAN Halo:Reach, and the actual, running Warthog from New Zealand that WETA made. My cousin pulled me into a game, and I played Beaver/Battle Creek Slayer. Then I ran back to PAX to check out various booths before the only panel I went to: Gaming as a Lifestyle.

    GaaL was supposed to have James Portnow (but he was asked to not attend due to a conflict with The Escapist) and Jeff Green (but he had to rush home to the east coast an Hurricane Irene),  but in the end it was Russ Pitts (Editor in Chief at the Escapist), Ian Dorsch (musical contributor to the Escapist), Graham Stark (Comedian, Writer of Unskippable and other shows on the Escapist) and Keith Baker (who was used to fill in for Jeff, and was wearing a snazzy cowboy hat).

    The panel consisted of asking everyone present about their first geeky experiences, what they thought about gaming, and being a gamer. What eventually came up was how weird it is that Gamer has all these preconceived notions attached to it, how part of being a gamer is creating your own personal mythology (moreso for D&D players, less so for console and PC gamers) and how part of being a gamer is being apart from most people, but still connected to a group of people who love what they’re doing. During the Q&A, I asked them if they thought that maybe Gamer has this specific bad connotation, not just because “the media paints the computer as a nightmare box used to terrify the elderly” but also because gamers huddle together to defend it, in their solidarity saying “Hey, this is how we have fun! We may end up in our mom’s basement, but that doesn’t mean we’re horrible people!”. They agreed, to my delight. By this point I wasn’t quite laden down with stuff, but starting to feel a bit sluggish, so some of what was said passed over my head.

    And when they ran out of time, I tore back to the convention floor, as there was less than an hour left. I got a free t-shirt from the RAGE booth, signed up for OnLive, signed up for (possible) WBGames testing locally, found an unopened Mass Effect 3 Omni-blade, and then did the following: First I hit the Bioshock Infinite booth, where a line of people waited to go past the huge Songbird statue bursting out of a fake brick wall, into a mini-gallery of concept art. The idea was that you look carefully at the art, scanning the details, then answer a quiz. If you got all 6 questions right, you got a t-shirt or lithograph. They only had Women’s Small t-shirts, so I made my sister do it. Apparently, with only an hour to go, they just let people BS and gave them free stuff, the side effect of Sunday that I love so much. I ran to the M:tG booth, where a life-size, glowing blue Jace statue, and a glass display case full of boosters and headphones lured in players to get hooked (as if the starter deck in the swag bag wasn’t enough). As I played the Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 game on PS3, I looked over and saw the Bethesda booth toss Skyrim hats and shirts into the arms of a screaming crowd, and part of me wanted to quit and bolt over there, but I stayed my ground, and when I beat Garruk with a green deck (it’s fun!) I was rewarded with “We’re out of promo cards.”

    After a frantic search, the (frankly surprised) M:tG lady uncovered one last card, taped to the box used to hold them. I took the card and the box, because that’s how I roll. And now overencumbered by this armful of wonderful con stuff, (plus my full backpack and messenger bag), so it was a hilarious sight to see when James Portnow (of Extra Credits fame) walked by me and I almost literally dropped my shit. I searched frantically for my notepad as I followed a few steps behind him, and finally whipped it out as I yelled “James!”. Having him sign it, and telling him it was great to hear him speak (in a video posted earlier) sealed PAX for me. I was satisified that my money was well spent, that I had fun, that all was good with the world. At least for that day. And I had learned that some of the most fun I had was worth the waiting. Now I need to start saving up for PAX 2012…

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Resident Evil: Deck Building Card Game Review

November 19, 2010 – 10:48 pm

Zombies, Rocket Launchers & Chris Redfield – Oh my!
By: DannyGirl

I went into this game kind of skeptical. Wouldn’t you? The franchise already has a big enough loyal fan base from the video games and the movies. A card game just seems like it would get lost in the white noise of fans brought up on Playstation graphics and Milla Jovovich as Alice. So, know before you even dive into this article that I was and still am a skeptic if this was the best route for Resident Evil to travel.

First off, let’s sum up the point of the game. In Story Mode, you want to have the most decorations, which are earned by destroying zombies in the Mansion. When a player offs Uroboros Aheri, the game is over and you tally up your kills. Mercenary Mode is timed in 15-turns where teams try to string together the largest combo-chain of zombie defeats. Versus Mode is for the true killer in all of us. Once the zombie threat is neutralized, players turn on each other til only one remains. All your favourites from the video game come to your aid: Yellow Herbs, shot guns, and the rocket launcher.

DESIGN:

PROS: The art isn’t awful. Similar to the games, so even in the “new” realm of card games – it also feels familiar. Cards are about as durable as any other card, not flimsy or cheap. I like the concept of the card list on the back of the instruction manual and matching number slots in the box, but….

CONS: The cards don’t stay in their numbered slots very well. I would highly recommend rubber banding them. It’s not like games just sit flat all the time. They get flipped on the side and shoved in closets or in our case, the cat loves on the box to the point it falls off the counter. So much for the 10 minutes wasted organizing them for a smoother set up next time. The concept is good, but it needs more to make it work. Also, the graphics stolen from the game are kind of a bummer if you were expecting to see some new original art.

SET UP:

PROS: There is so many ways to play this game – it’s mind blowing. Really. There’s five scenarios for Story Mode ranging from “First Timer” all the way to “Battle-Hardened Veteran”. Mercenary Mode has three scenarios. And with Versus Mode, you get another three versions.

CONS: Each scenario and game play-mode requires different cards for your resource piles (these are the items you can buy to save your [---]). That means it does take some time for set up, especially if your cards aren’t organized (see: design). The manual says most game plays are anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. From our experience, this does NOT include set up time which took an additional 15 or so on its own. So, make sure you have some time on your hands.

INSTRUCTIONS

PROS: The graphic that explains the field layout is helpful. The card list on the back is helpful too (but see: design)

CONS: Yikes!! I read the instructions myself before playing. Brian read the instructions before playing. Brian read the instructions out lout to our group of three people playing. And we STILL ended up playing the wrong way to begin with! Bandai needs to really work on their wording & specifying. There’s an a FAQ part in the back of the book. A good instruction manual wouldn’t need that, unless their test group was seriously a group of trained apes. Plus, you can tell where there’s misprints. The FAQ section gets cut off mid-answer and the web address is printed wrong!

GAME PLAY

PROS: It takes some practice, but it’s overall a fun game, especially in groups of 3 or 4. But there are game play methods that you can play with as little as 1 player. Not to mention, it offers suggestions on how to change the difficulty if you’re playing with newbies or zombies 13+ (as recommended by the box) – or if you’ve been playing a while and want a challenge.

CONS: You only get one action, one buy & one explore per turn. There are cards you can purchase that give perks of an extra buy or an extra explore that turn. It also kind of stinks the guns and grenades of this game have summoning sickness, meaning they can’t be used the same turn they are purchased.

A couple TIPS:

The web address is: www.bandaicg.com/residentevil/ – The printer for the I in Bandai. Ouch. The tutorial on Bandai’s website is visually cool and semi-helpful if you have enough patience & time to sit through it.
The amount of gold you can spend per turn to purchase a resource is based only on that turn. If you use 20 ammo & gain 20 gold, you only have 20 gold. That 20 gold doesn’t carry over to your next turn.
There’s a couple resources that don’t cost ANY gold! The Combat Knife and Ammo x10 are both freebies. Stock up, but also note you are risking drawing 5-cards of just ammo but no gun. Or a bunch of combat knives that only do 5 damage each, when the easiest Infected in the Mansion has a health level of 10, the largest being 90. Not to mention, that uses your one buy for that turn.
From the sound of the instructions (seen in “Player may do any of the following” & Albert Wesker’s Level 2 ability “[Player] must Explore at least once on their next turn”) indicates that you do not HAVE to Explore the Mansion. However, upon not doing so you cannot kill any zombies thus cannot level up and thus, well, can’t win.

Overall, I’d rate it a solid B-. If I was in charge, I would of started with only one or two styles of game play and saved the additional cards as add-ons to the core box later on. It’s a time consuming game. It takes time for set up and a play thru takes a good chunk of time too. The concept is cool, but the developers need to simplify the instructions and be more specific about some of the game play.

Resident Evil: Deck Building Game
$29.99
Players: 2 – 4
Game Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Ages: 13+
Available for Pre-Order
Release Date: December 3, 2010

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Introducing: Proxyd! – A Handcrafted Line of Gaming Accessories

September 29, 2010 – 8:16 pm

What is a Proxy?

Let’s go the cliche’ route & give the dictionary definition.

A proxy is: “the agency, function, or power of a person authorized to act as the deputy or substitute for another.”

Pretty much, it’s a fake. Proxies in the gaming world are typically used to test out deck ideas, allowed in certain tournament formats when you don’t want to bring your high-priced card & a really good proxy can fool your friends into thinking you’ve got a nice invested collection.

What is Proxyd!?

Proxyd! is the lovechild between my love for gaming & my passion for crafting. Sure, I stand out in the gaming community by being a chick. Sure, my eccentric personality would probably get me noticed too. But what would I really like to be known for? If not my skills, then my style.

That’s what Proxyd! is all about: Gaming with Style.

Each piece is handcrafted by yours truly with absolute love for what I do & what you do too (get your game on, that is).

And love for the environment. It’s sad to think so many commons end up tossed in the garbage. Repacks go unsold, because players assume they’re junk cards. So many comic books won’t be recycled with the newspapers. Many of the projects you’ll see featured in the Proxyd! line have at least one recycled element. If we don’t care about the planet, it won’t be here for the future gamers to come.

Proxyd!: Handcrafted Gaming Accessories
Sold Exclusively @ Enders Games

Until next time all you stylish gamers out there – Game on!

[DannyGirl]

By Brian | Posted in Store News | Comments (0)

Tabletop Games – Last Night On Earth – A Magical Toolbox Of Fun Loaded With Rotting Flesh And Dice By Pete Ruth

June 15, 2010 – 10:28 pm
LNoE+Box.jpgWell, after ample delays and a bizarre stint on Jury Duty that had me viewing several images and a video depicting feces, I finally have a moment to jot down my thoughts on a board game. Tonight’s review is of a fantastic game in the ever-popular genre of the walking dead, Last Night On Earth: The Zombie Game. I sure do loves me some zombies, too; you can’t help but admire the selfless flesh-eating ghouls as they decimate populations to solve both human overpopulation AND global famine in one fell swoop. I mean, that’s the definition of a philanthropist, right?

Anyhow, this little gem is published by our friends at Flying Frog Productions, and I’m here to tell you that it is unimpeachably the finest zombie combat-adventure game that I’ve ever played. It’s engaging, fun, and the folks at Flying Frog have even gone so far as to utilize live actors for the overwhelming majority of the game’s art, which is a real departure from the norm. One look at the cover art and I was hooked; I plopped down 40 bones right then and there.

The art and photography is so well executed that the grim theme pours off of the box like blood off of a feeding zombie’s chin, creating a truly unique game experience. In fact, there is not a single “LARP Lightning Bolt Guy” hall of shame inductee in the whole box, and all of the imagery is dark and believable. The only drawn illustrations in the game are on the modular game boards and a few tokens, meaning that every piece of art is literally a stylized photograph of someone doing something sinister or heroic. The only complaint that I can see anyone having is that although many zombie flicks have a hot naked heroine catching some albino Cyclops at one point or another, there’s no such luck here, so don’t expect to see the Farmer’s Daughter doing the “Roadhouse” or the Nurse playing doctor.

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Magic: The Gathering – Spoiler Season – Magic 2011! by Josh Elliott

June 15, 2010 – 10:19 pm

Welcome back! Figures that with my luck, I would turn my back for a minute, and suddenly I have SEVENTY spoiled cards from M11 to look at and review! Today I’m just doing to look at some of the brand new cards that we are getting from the set, but even then I have a long list, so let’s get to it!

First up on the list are a series of cards that while new, are very similar to ones that have already been printed:

Aether Master
:1mana::u::u:
Creature – Human Wizard
Common
When Æther Master* enters the battlefield, return target creature to its owner’s hand.
2/2

For those of you who were playing back in the day, you should immediately look at this guy and think: “Oh, so they’re bringing back Man of War!” While he’s not exactly the same, having his mana cost being restricted from :2mana::u: to :1mana::u::u:, his creature type got a boost, becoming the more useful wizard. While this guy is probably not Constructed playable right now, he may pop up in the odd deck, and depending on where the format goes after the rotation, he may start to creep into the odd list or two. Until then, he should be a solid choice in Limited, giving you a decent body and swinging the tempo in your favor. Perfectly fine by me, especially in a core set.

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Kill Doctor Lucky – Dodging More Murder Attempts Than The Three Stooges by Pete Ruth

May 29, 2010 – 12:47 am
KillDoctorLuckyBox.jpg

A friend of mine had asked me to create some custom Heroscape snow tiles for him, and in return he sent me a copy of Titanic Games’ “Kill Doctor Lucky” in its latest iteration, published by Paizo Publishing. I had played this many, many moons ago when it was under the control of different publisher, but the Paizo game is far better than any previous iteration, and by a good bit, too. It’s a neat little large-group game that has nice visuals and fun, brisk gameplay.

The premise of Kill Doctor Lucky is that the players act as characters who have had their good name besmirched, had their wives impregnated, had their cars repossessed, had their dogs sold into slavery, or were slipped several pounds of laxative by the not-so-good Doctor Lucky. They want revenge, in no uncertain terms, and the only way to describe their feelings toward the Doctor is in saying they would not piss in his mouth if his guts were burning with a white-hot flame. So, you see, they want to kill him, badly. For some reason, though, all these nemeses seem to be in his house at the same time, awaiting the right moment to end his feeble existence, but they can’t risk being caught, so they can only strike when nobody is watching. So, in short, this is the opposite of Clue, where instead of finding who did it, and where, with what weapon, you’re trying to find where you can, with what weapon, and how to get away with it.

KillDrLuckyBits.jpg

The box is brilliantly illustrated, and when you open it you’re greeted by an equally lovely game board, some beautifully illustrated standies that represent both the victim and the perpetrators, some tokens, and a great many nicely depicted cards. Additionally, a small but very well written rulebook accompany the good Doctor, and it will be more than sufficient to learn and play the game like a pro, even from the first play. The rules contain the previously released expansions, such as “And his little dog too” which add some elements to the game to make it even more difficult to off the old man.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward, as is the setup. You place all the characters that are present in the foyer area, and each turn you may move one space and either play a card or try to bust a cap into the Doc. If you elected not to play a card, you may draw a card, provided you are in a room that is named rather than in a hallway. Line of sight is of paramount importance as you may not attack the doctor if anyone can see you do it, making it all the more difficult to pursue your sinister goal. At the end of every turn, you move the Doc one space forward, sequentially, so his path is mostly predictable.

KillDrLuckyCards.jpg

Now, all of this sounds easy, right up until you realize how hard it is to kill him. He’s not called Doctor Dumbass, he’s Doctor Lucky, and he truly is lucky indeed and able to survive a multitude of attacks during a game before he meets his final disposition. You start the game with several cards in hand, and these range from allowing you to move yourself to a nonadjacent room, moving the doctor to another room, Weapon cards which are the key to killing the Doctor, and most importantly, Failure cards. Every Weapon card has an attack value, and most weapons get a bonus if you attack the doctor in the room listed on the card. You can attack him barehanded, but it only yields an attack value of one, so it’s only very rarely effective. On the flipside, there are Failure cards that opponents play to stop you from killing the doctor, meaning that if you go at him with a lead pipe valued at two, you can be stopped by one player playing a Failure card valued at two or two players playing Failure cards valued at one each. The upside of failing in an assault, though, is that you are not only stopped from murdering the guy, you are so pissed off about it that you earn a Spite token, which gives you a permanent bonus of one point on every subsequent attempt at killing your target.

Gameplay is very, very brisk as there’s not a whole lot to do but move, play or draw a card, and then move the Doc, but when attacks occur things can slow down for a second. There’s a surprising amount of strategy involved in playing the cards beause only the last player in line behind an attacking player is forced to use their Failure cards, so as any other player defending the Doc, you may play a smaller card than you otherwise might in order to force other players to expend their Failure cards to make it easier to be successful when it’s your turn to step up to bat….the Doctor in the skull.

The optional expansions are a nice distraction as well, with a little Scottish Terrier standie walking the gameboard each turn as another person to see you up to nefarious deeds, and although the Spite tokens are actually optional, playing without them is simply a stupid thing to do because they add so very much to the game, as well as reducing the length of the game to the level of Risk or Civilization. Playing with five players using the original rules can be spotty, at best, because it really comes down to getting the right cards and right situation in order to perform a successful attack. Since the game ends when someone kills the Doc, and with no Spite tokens in play, the game can stretch on for hours and hours, it’s almost mandatory to use them.

Why Paizo Gets A Doctorate In Fun:
*The art is fantastic, with each room, card, and standie really bringing out the game’s true colors
*The text on each Failure card is really, truly funny, and it adds a lot to the game when players read the cards during an attempt to foil the murder
*The strategic options within the game as well as the brisk play keep turns short and the fun level hig
*Backstabbity player interaction makes this a fun “party in a box”
*Getting away with murder may not be moral, but it sure is fun

What I Found Murderously Unappealing:
*Without the Spite tokens, the game can drag on for a very, very, very long time
*The game isn’t much fun unless you have four or more players

Overall:
This is a great, light party game if you have a bunch of people in your game group who are not opposed to murdering the elderly. The replayability is fairly high, and this version has several variants that allow you to extend it further. Finally, the art is very nice, which makes those who appreciate eye candy more willing to spend 2 hours looking at the same game board.

Rating:
3.75/5 Stars

Article courtesy of Eye of the Vortex by Pete Ruth

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Summoner Wars – A Card Game Of Death And Dismemberment by Pete Ruth

May 28, 2010 – 12:28 am
Summoner Wars: Goblins vs Dwarves

Let me start this review by saying this: I’m better than you, at least right now. Probably not always, maybe even never again, but right at this very moment, assuming you’re NOT an owner of this game in any of it’s forms, well, I’ve got you beat, and you’ll soon know it.

I had a FEDEX truck show up at my house this morning and deliver my Starter set for Summoner Wars from Plaid Hat Games. Soon, you’ll see why my life is so blessed, and you, well right now you’re reading this thinking me a fool, but that’s your ignorance talking. Read on and realize why.

The box is about the size of one that might come with a nicer pocket knife, or perhaps a large wallet. It’s a hair slimmer in width than a DVD case, a hair longer, and about as thick as 3 sitting atop each other. The art on the front, back and sides is very compelling and makes you want to tear the shrinkwrap off with your teeth, foaming at the mouth like some rabid, terrible creature. Well, maybe not that nice, but damned nice. It has a glossy, seamless texture to it that elicits emotions of joy, almost to the point of Gollum and his precious. Well, perhaps more like a rat and something shiny, but still, it’s a nice little carrying case for the perilous yet enchanting treasure it holds.

Summoner Wars Play Field

After maliciously murdering said shrinkwrap, I opened the box to find two decks of wonderfully detailed cards, five dice, a fold-out playfield, some wound markers and a rulebook sitting on top, tempting me to read onward into this necronomicon of the dark arts. I hesitated, as I knew that no good could come of this. It was all becoming clear…this box contained a gateway to another dimension, where dishes remain dirty, where the TV remained tuned to channel 834, “Alternative Adult Rock – 90′s” and where Pinot Grigio and The Glenlivet flow freely. Yes, this will definately soak up some hours.

After cracking this dark tome of infinite knowledge, I found the short, yet interesting backstory enough to keep me interested without the feeling of reading a novella that implied I may need to make some room in the “Tolkien Knock-Off” file as some games tend to attempt. No pretense, only a quick, one page, “These guys all seek Summoning Stones, they want to get more, so they’re kicking some ass”.

The actual incantations and explanatory text were appealing to the eye, straightforward, and even rather simple, but were very effective and well organized. Each section had everything where it should be, and it was so easy that had my 8-year old not been eating lunch when the package arrived I may have performed a prescribed ritual and attempted to summon a creature of terrible power to defeat the “Evil One” that lives with me, well, that was until I realized that I only had pocket lint on me, and no Summoning Stone in sight. Damn you, page one! If only I could find a stone… well, I digress.

The cards, after being carefully removed from their protective cocoon of what I can only identify as an aetherial energy of some kind of arcane manufacture (which has an uncanny resemblance to cellophane), have such lifelike art that the characters may indeed pop out of the card itself in a burst of summoning energy, blinding my children. I shielded my daughters eyes and was buffeted by cries of, “Daddy, don’t knock over the kool-aid! I’m eatin’ here!!”. So young, so brave.

The cards themselves have a slick, playing card texture and are appealingly keen upon the fingers of an old cardsharp such as I. The thickness is perfect for the constant movement of the card/characters as they parry, dodge, and strike at the heart of the opponent’s shabby and inglorious ragtag company of soldiers. Any thicker and the cards would be a pain to pick up when defeated, and thinner and they’d bend too easily. As the prophet Golda E. Lox thrice noted, “Just Right”.

The battlefield is printed on a parchment-type paper, and my copy was crisp yet uncreased when I pulled it out of the box. Upon deployment to begin my training as a master spellcaster and “King of all I Survey”, I noticed that the mat did not lay completely flat due to the warping of being rolled/folded for so long. I covered the sheet with a piece of acrylic and all was well. This practice, as I found later, also aids in the movement of the cards, as the slippery surface allowed the cards to glide like so many ballerinas performing The Four Seasons.

The wound markers are binderboard chits with lovely artwork as well as being thick and durable. The double sided nature, with one side representing one wound and the opposite three, is nice as the evidence left behind from your working of evil magicks for your foul purposes, the better.

The final components were the dice, neatly tucked in a plastic bag, which by all appearance are exactly like the Chessex opaque white dice, with the exception these particular dice would later kill Dwarves and Goblins with such precision that I intend to register them as deadly weapons and lock them in my safe to protect the innocent. Perhaps these are the Summoning Stones foretold in Legend… and speaking of Legend, did I mention that there is a lovely glossary at the back of the Tome Of The Dark Arts? It’s quite complete and will help you with your pursuit of power and glory.

All in all, I’d give this purchase a 9 out of 10 for it’s quality of components. My major complaint is that the box, in all it’s shiny goodness, with all it’s wee bits of arcane magick and the promise of eternal power, does not contain the Summoner’s Stones, which has hampered my ability to summon any actual Goblins or Dwarves. Dissapointing, so I had to dock a point.

As far as the gameplay goes, the tempo is fast paced, never dull, and was very easy to understand… for my daughter. Apparently her skill as a master summoner exceeds even my own remarkable power as she broke me like a cheap-ass lawn chair not once, but twice consecutively.

The main idea is to use magic (cards that you’ve spent earlier or captured cards) to summon creatures to walls (that you place initially and may add to later, Crom willing) and to use these summoned creatures to slay the opposing summoner. It’s all very easy to understand, at least to those of the 7-9 age bracket.

I give the gameplay a solid 9 rating of 10, and that’s only because my daughter kicked my ass. Had I won ONE of the games we played, this might have gone all the way.

So, as I close this thesis on my newfound game, know that until you too have a copy, I will always be better than you. Good luck with that!

What I liked:
*Fast gameplay and quick-reading rulebook make this a super gateway game
*The art is absolutely brilliant
*The value-to-price ratio is better than 1:1 – a ton of game for the money
*Replayability value is ridiculously high
*A multitude of expansions are planned and will be available within months

What I detested:
*That craptastic folded paper playmat is NOT a turn on
*I suck at the game and can’t seem to beat my 8 year old

Overall:
This fast-playing card/miniatures-sans-miniatures game will redefine how you look at card games. It’s half Heroscape, half Battlegrounds Fantasy and all kick-ass. Anyone who doesn’t have this in their collection is totally missing out.

Rating:
4.5/5 Stars

Article Courtesy of Eye of the Vortex by Pete Ruth

By Brian | Posted in Eye of the Vortex Articles | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Preorder Summoner Wars Expansions at Ender’s Games

May 26, 2010 – 2:27 am

We just got approved with our Distributer and we can now offer you new games and accessories at Ender’s Games. To start off the week, Plaid Hat Games new bestseller Summoner Wars is now on Preorder!

You can get these great game expansions for $9.95 each. You can order them on our store page.

Summoner Wars: Vanguards
Summoner Wars: Vanguards
Summoner Wars: Fallen Kingdom
Summoner Wars: Fallen Kingdom

Also Check out these great articles about Summoner War by our friends at Eye of the Vortex.

A Summoner Wars Conversation – An Interview With Colby Dauch

Tabletop Games – A Magic Player’s Summoner Wars Review

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May is zombie awareness month!

May 5, 2010 – 9:06 pm

In honor of Zombie Awareness Month, we’re throwing in 5 random zombie cards with every order placed from now thru May 31st! For more information on Zombie Awareness Month, check out the Zombie Research Society’s homepage.

By Brian | Posted in Store News | Comments (0)

Zendikar and Worldwake up!

April 23, 2010 – 2:00 am

We have listed our inventory of Zendikar and Worldwake. Visit our store page to browse through what we have.

Also, don’t forget to take a look at our Rise of the Eldrazi cards we have listed.

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