tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59217284351690384652024-03-19T03:47:51.267+00:00Games & TeaHere at Games & Tea we're rather fond of board and card games, particularly those which could be described as 'geeky'. So we're here to tell you all about our latest games discoveries, and our opinions on them.
Also we like tea. There will be no tea reviews on this blog, but it will be drunk in great quantity whilst playing these games.
If any indie gamers would like us to review their games, send us a message or leave a comment on one of our articles! Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-48506404775187337812019-08-01T22:46:00.001+01:002019-08-03T05:16:44.684+01:00Resident Evil 2: The Board Game. Solo Campaign Scenario 2A: The S.T.A.R.S. Office<div style="text-align: justify;">
Welcome back to the solo campaign playthrough of Steamforged Games'<i> Resident Evil 2: The Board Game</i>!</div>
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In <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2019/07/resident-evil-2-board-game-preliminary.html" target="_blank">scenario 1A</a> of our solo campaign, Leon generally breezed through the zombie hoards roaming the streets of Raccoon City, and made it through the doors of the Raccoon City Police Department. He ended the scenario with an extra shotgun, although one point of health was lost to an unfortunate zombie bite en-route. However, scenario 1A was the tutorial mission, and scenario 2A promises to put our hero in some genuine peril!</div>
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Scenario 2A doesn't quite throw the players in at the deep end, but it certainly gives them a knowing little push in that direction. We're now including two floors - which can only be accessed through the stairwell tile - and locked rooms - which can only be unlocked using keys gathered from the item decks. Item chests are now included, which allow storage of items for later scenarios, freeing up potentially vital inventory space. We also now feature the encounter mechanism, which is the reason behind the colour coded rooms...</div>
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From scenario 2A onwards, whenever a character steps into a red or yellow coloured room for the first time, this room is unexplored territory. By rolling a D6 and comparing the result to the corresponding Encounter Dice Table, the player finds out what horrors are waiting in store for them!</div>
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And finally we have an additional enemy type: the Licker. Fans of the videogame will recognise these as being highly damaging and tough to kill. Fortunately there's only one on the starting board, but there's always the possibility of more appearing!</div>
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So with the slightly more elaborate board set up, it's time to head for... The S.T.A.R.S. Office! Using the campaign rules, Leon's handgun has been fully reloaded, and the shotgun is now up to 6 shells out of the maximum 7.</div>
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<i>"With eerily quiet halls, it seems the Raccoon City Police Department won't be the sanctuary you once hoped for. The streets outside are overrun, though, so your only choice is to explore deeper within the RPD building and try to meet up with any other survivors. With hesitant steps, the search begins..."</i></div>
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Entering the first room, the roll on the encounter table goes well. Leon is forced to make an evade roll or forfeit the rest of the turn, but passes without problem. Then, suddenly...</div>
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...for the second successive scenario, the first card drawn from the Tension Deck is<i> Echoes in the Darkness</i>. This particular Leon does seem to be cursed by this card! Fortunately, he's in a clear room so has enough actions in the next turn to be able to get out of the room before it takes effect.</div>
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Leon soon runs into the big threat on the board: the Licker! With a big map to explore, the decision is made to conserve ammo and attempt to run past! The first attempt fails, and Leon takes another point of damage, but the second attempt sees him dart past, hopefully able to put this tonguey menace behind him for the moment.</div>
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A few turns in, and things start to look bad for Leon! After an unlucky room exploration he takes another hit of damage, just managing to escape the two zombies inside at the end of the turn...</div>
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...or so he thought...</div>
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Another yellow card appears from the Tension deck, instantly bringing those two very same zombies straight through onto Leon's square!</div>
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He'll now start the next turn low on health and facing a tough decision: turn and run, or stand and fight?</div>
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After a successful pair of attack rolls he killed one zombie and knocked back the second, buying enough breathing room to get into the next room and slam the door closed! A brief moment of unhindered room-searching followed, furnishing Leon with a much needed handgun clip and some healing herbs, before he made his way up to the second floor.</div>
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One easily-avoided zombie later, and Leon finds himself in a quiet corridor right outside the S.T.A.R.S. office. Unfortunately, not only does he not have the office key, but he doesn't even have the key to the room which contains the office key! Looks like this mission's going to have to continue!</div>
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Another room search and 2 more zombie kills later, the Spade Key has still not been found, meaning there's only one possible remaining place for it! At this point, the Tension Deck is half way depleted, meaning at least one of those dreaded red cards is approaching.</div>
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About. Damn. Time! Now, with a green herb used to restore a point of health, and another ammo clip used to reload the handgun, it's time to get back down to the first floor. The Tension Deck is now half depleted, so we're almost guaranteed to hit a red at any moment now!</div>
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After heading back upstairs there are 3 possible locations where the key to the S.T.A.R.S. office might be hiding; one is accessed through a clear room, and the other two are behind a door guarded by that Licker from earlier! Leon crosses his fingers and heads to the easier location...</div>
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Using the Spade Key to unlock the door, Leon steps inside the room and the Encounter Table drops a zombie right on top of the item. With no time to waste, he takes aim with his shotgun, blowing the zombie apart and clearing the room. He heads to the corner of the room, inspects the item...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjP1g_7tQ92YL3Byj8XzHIYeqN7EGGQJvH357RLf0q7gnVn4JsNyMmXCV67Xk_IwJwqOsiQYkmfuM94uXhScvodASIK2SYUyB0u973AJAnuX26u2A3vXtl2fPosTyf_rRp4fzDYnzflnY/s1600/DSC_0144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1208" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjP1g_7tQ92YL3Byj8XzHIYeqN7EGGQJvH357RLf0q7gnVn4JsNyMmXCV67Xk_IwJwqOsiQYkmfuM94uXhScvodASIK2SYUyB0u973AJAnuX26u2A3vXtl2fPosTyf_rRp4fzDYnzflnY/s400/DSC_0144.JPG" width="301" /></a></div>
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YASSSS!!! Finally the odds are in Leon's favour! Now there's just a single zombie between him and the S.T.A.R.S. office, but of course those red cards are still lurking amongst the final 10 in the Tension Deck!</div>
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Leon heads up the stairs. The zombie still waits for him, but with a spare ammo clip still in reserve, he unloads 3 shots with the handgun. The zombie isn't killed, but it's enough to push the creature back, allowing Leon to get past and into the corridor with the S.T.A.R.S. office! Safety is in sight!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovqvg173FXblVxMMurfYTkFYvp7ntIWrsWYjL22FSTOESkFfuupf8PMzq0AGxZOuUs6wYTc8VN2fMeaHaAFaYcsudjXXz6bfou62-VdH_qHvTRtmDMeBn5ER65ZsSwi2IgI9lOHdBQJw/s1600/DSC_0145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovqvg173FXblVxMMurfYTkFYvp7ntIWrsWYjL22FSTOESkFfuupf8PMzq0AGxZOuUs6wYTc8VN2fMeaHaAFaYcsudjXXz6bfou62-VdH_qHvTRtmDMeBn5ER65ZsSwi2IgI9lOHdBQJw/s400/DSC_0145.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Just one more draw from the Tension Deck, and in the next turn Leon can get through the door and the scenario is complete!<br />
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Oh..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXGUaONGGQSWcECulQe83v_Yf0IHIZVr5mmn0PKm3bMTM9fNReFhyphenhyphenVlwXjcmIxOR_Ek9V99oDRxk8f1jYIsb-5GGuJavzIinZjFQ54BJP1YmHr2DAIRbp43qXdz1auGJpg0gL2UzOzRE/s1600/DSC_0147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXGUaONGGQSWcECulQe83v_Yf0IHIZVr5mmn0PKm3bMTM9fNReFhyphenhyphenVlwXjcmIxOR_Ek9V99oDRxk8f1jYIsb-5GGuJavzIinZjFQ54BJP1YmHr2DAIRbp43qXdz1auGJpg0gL2UzOzRE/s400/DSC_0147.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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...well this changes things.</div>
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Leon slams the door to keep out the zombie behind him, and uses another precious shotgun shell to blow the first zombie dog to pieces! The second lunges at him, but he dodges past and throws open the door to the S.T.A.R.S. office.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKDqHU9kFD6X9kKzbSyQhiXpAgHnMsy3US3R-B0CE4F6VeJKsI24owbseDq_1B4oqKdRv4Sj1Cia2DsBxwcpS_oKizYHJcjHrzFohTPAwEjLMU7eLsRca71Z6DVQyzcI9boOK62hS0_M/s1600/DSC_0148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKDqHU9kFD6X9kKzbSyQhiXpAgHnMsy3US3R-B0CE4F6VeJKsI24owbseDq_1B4oqKdRv4Sj1Cia2DsBxwcpS_oKizYHJcjHrzFohTPAwEjLMU7eLsRca71Z6DVQyzcI9boOK62hS0_M/s400/DSC_0148.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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With no actions left this turn, the zombie dog is able to move onto Leon's space, readying for an attack on the next turn. Will the final draw of the Tension Deck go easy on our hero?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SgYXDfqaCQzL8Fq6U-BGV1zAdWyrKeiHQEpNM-OKt2JfzebBIh3MhUv0YR0UvYbxvWsG9C-_F6wOIR91OGLU7AkR-EpJ2jDUEu-JfYD4tuQ8g7hJNtRPgio9zcBsNZ94IEEH5t94lwE/s1600/DSC_0149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1065" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9SgYXDfqaCQzL8Fq6U-BGV1zAdWyrKeiHQEpNM-OKt2JfzebBIh3MhUv0YR0UvYbxvWsG9C-_F6wOIR91OGLU7AkR-EpJ2jDUEu-JfYD4tuQ8g7hJNtRPgio9zcBsNZ94IEEH5t94lwE/s400/DSC_0149.JPG" width="266" /></a></div>
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It does! Knowing that a free handgun reload comes between scenarios in the campaign, Leon unloads on the remaining zombie dog. It's not enough to kill the beast, but it pushes it back enough to allow Leon through the door and into the S.T.A.R.S. office at long last!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPWj1clJaBpkufsEJqbEKZjplvbSeeWNkr3m3O04rGR6daSJo9NFfOuVwigXkC_ZkRdKO91dviqCpYT74ssakc0fPA_wT0SinZBqe9QE9FcBuECRxo_I_G6EUPOZcC25cudBXebj7cjQ/s1600/DSC_0150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPWj1clJaBpkufsEJqbEKZjplvbSeeWNkr3m3O04rGR6daSJo9NFfOuVwigXkC_ZkRdKO91dviqCpYT74ssakc0fPA_wT0SinZBqe9QE9FcBuECRxo_I_G6EUPOZcC25cudBXebj7cjQ/s400/DSC_0150.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The win condition for this scenario is for all of the characters to be inside the office, and for no enemies to be on that tile, meaning that Leon has successfully completed the scenario!</div>
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Following the campaign rules, Leon's handgun is completely reloaded, and the shotgun gets 3 new shells. The green herb in his inventory is used to heal another point of damage, as it would have to be discarded at this point if left unused. All other ammo items are removed from the inventory, as well as quest items (in this case, the two door keys). This leaves Leon in generally quite a strong position for taking on Scenario 3A: Heading Back to Marvin.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_NAfGwIuZQfSrX3P12doAFqn9Ooi4ELGvJU6Cmx1Nn1jWeWMa9U-ZE01d5W1PvzUG2SYFl2LyS65ZkXik-qz5Flanr8_Z4Hyb6h6qgcQ1XQblAw3cUz26g-6d0ZchjanqJ02EfV3O5o/s1600/DSC_0151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_NAfGwIuZQfSrX3P12doAFqn9Ooi4ELGvJU6Cmx1Nn1jWeWMa9U-ZE01d5W1PvzUG2SYFl2LyS65ZkXik-qz5Flanr8_Z4Hyb6h6qgcQ1XQblAw3cUz26g-6d0ZchjanqJ02EfV3O5o/s400/DSC_0151.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Once again, we hope you've enjoyed following Leon's exploits! Come back soon to see how he fares as the campaign continues and the risks increase!</div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Did you enjoy this article? If so check us out on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Games-Tea-109084687102249/?ref=profile_intro_card" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Facebook</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> or </span><a href="https://twitter.com/Games_And_Tea" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #0066cc; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" target="_blank">Twitter</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3d85c6; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> for more gaming goodness!</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-24525774684022884772019-07-28T19:13:00.000+01:002019-08-03T05:16:23.537+01:00Resident Evil 2: The Board Game. Preliminary Review & Solo Campaign 1A: Getting to the Police Department<div style="text-align: justify;">
As mentioned in the previous article, Games & Tea will largely be focusing on board games with a single player option for the time being, starting with Steamforged Games'<i> Resident Evil 2: The Board Game</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCC2-QrfnR6IQxD28je6ut20f3FL56AXB0N8NmKwvvpFSLbFCHgEaf9BSQtBGMaJdl1J56KEKi4iQel91LTVORDwLTDWxAMQNIGeS2KhTCwpAgfOtCTcVr8OLf3ua-mblZKU1UcGO2vk/s1600/DSC_0099.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1569" data-original-width="1600" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJCC2-QrfnR6IQxD28je6ut20f3FL56AXB0N8NmKwvvpFSLbFCHgEaf9BSQtBGMaJdl1J56KEKi4iQel91LTVORDwLTDWxAMQNIGeS2KhTCwpAgfOtCTcVr8OLf3ua-mblZKU1UcGO2vk/s400/DSC_0099.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Just like the original videogame, <i>Resident Evil 2</i> drops the players into Raccoon City; the epicentre of a zombie outbreak. And, just like the videogame, <i>Resident Evil 2</i> is a game of survival horror. Unlike some other zombie board games such as <i>Zombicide,</i> which reward players for going on a zombie-killing rampage, <i>Resident Evil 2</i> will mercilessly punish reckless players, and leave you asking yourself "Can I really spare the bullet to take down the next zombie, or should I take my chance and just run past?" The one and only goal in this game is to make it out of the city in one piece, and before the outbreak becomes inescapable.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GWwnQ7FDl8bFnrT9d8thNyWWkOWwLfsul6rTazaRmfzeXxBv5qBwaX6kjOUwurD-hh2TgkzW7Z8PHXDW_4_aXuzBa_xPT4nUoX-sivcoVWb_-hCIHu7dWjE4aTaVOCSjQzxR13a4Dnc/s1600/DSC_0100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3GWwnQ7FDl8bFnrT9d8thNyWWkOWwLfsul6rTazaRmfzeXxBv5qBwaX6kjOUwurD-hh2TgkzW7Z8PHXDW_4_aXuzBa_xPT4nUoX-sivcoVWb_-hCIHu7dWjE4aTaVOCSjQzxR13a4Dnc/s400/DSC_0100.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice little nod to the videogame as soon as you open the box.</td></tr>
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Rather than the simple box contents and gameplay format our reviews would typically take, this time we're recording a campaign run. With the board consisting of modular tiles, the Campaign Book included with<i> Resident Evil 2</i> allows you to choose between a number of different scenarios of increasing difficulty, each of which can be played as a standalone game session. However, for those feeling a little adventurous and wanting something they can really get their undead teeth into, there is the option (and additional rules) to play them sequentially as a campaign. For this purpose, the back of the Campaign Book does include a blank campaign sheet, which it's recommended to photocopy a handful when the opportunity presents itself.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4spzAqXm57gucOBE8C3Dd3iBuYi5GLGO6TvVExa5X4goLBxM1kraytyHwU89V7f_ykmvDhmv8YCPVHNAotU46iWSK5DGmDS9U8vo6Hf28yGlD7nYNRqOodTWV1wC_nwizMO8VM6rSDA/s1600/DSC_0101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1600" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4spzAqXm57gucOBE8C3Dd3iBuYi5GLGO6TvVExa5X4goLBxM1kraytyHwU89V7f_ykmvDhmv8YCPVHNAotU46iWSK5DGmDS9U8vo6Hf28yGlD7nYNRqOodTWV1wC_nwizMO8VM6rSDA/s400/DSC_0101.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If the photocopier at work is monitored with a login, try and con Kevin from accounting into copying some of these for you. Everyone hates that guy anyway.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeEbBuHydPvXJmxNIBTRjXU72fvPXfbE5nKWFClGzgaP4Kd8sGbTsDCZMfJM5a5TV3g_7ouiYvm1Fh1teYbMM5Z88WI-dkREhYcyJcBbdmXG750izKFz67y9HDNhBneXZ8VBdbFnXWv4/s1600/DSC_0102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1447" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLeEbBuHydPvXJmxNIBTRjXU72fvPXfbE5nKWFClGzgaP4Kd8sGbTsDCZMfJM5a5TV3g_7ouiYvm1Fh1teYbMM5Z88WI-dkREhYcyJcBbdmXG750izKFz67y9HDNhBneXZ8VBdbFnXWv4/s400/DSC_0102.JPG" width="361" /></a></div>
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At the start of each scenario, the board needs to be put together using the modular tiles and following the map printed on that scenario's page in the Campaign Book. As well as the board layout, this will also include the starting positions for the players, for all starting enemies, and any items, doors or terrain features. Our campaign series will be using some of the Kickstarter exclusive upgrades to replace the terrain tokens with plastic models, however the rules and gameplay are the same as the retail version. If the opportunity comes up to get your hands on the 3D upgrades however, it's highly recommended to take them. As well as simply adding to the immersion of the game, the printing on the cardboard tokens is very dark at times, and can be a struggle to make out.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgi4kB4pAxdkRV8B15OgVjMD8A2zP6M4EW1VLJIbXN6XFC7byEtXvd-REx70K5BAAnx52XKBHE2us_Se6FS9S42rMKN5aQ_kdqoFF3Qym4g661nb_R1xFwkstjAtKUPUY7xMNjAL6PPw/s1600/DSC_0106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1233" data-original-width="1600" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgi4kB4pAxdkRV8B15OgVjMD8A2zP6M4EW1VLJIbXN6XFC7byEtXvd-REx70K5BAAnx52XKBHE2us_Se6FS9S42rMKN5aQ_kdqoFF3Qym4g661nb_R1xFwkstjAtKUPUY7xMNjAL6PPw/s400/DSC_0106.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Once the board is assembled and ready to go, you should have something like this! Next, you'll need you character card, a player board and health tracker token, and your starting equipment...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGBbOeAH6IN_ZaSPtWqe_6LmPnQ_KV2An2vPa7Vl2KBaYjUShKrXU2WpiFsfnPJTUXmyAYQ9Djj7rwoKHbCZ9uQz0veKIZDYGgeaCudlodcNIFas8sDPW_Tq08cFXpQzTJjj6zdkUxG4/s1600/DSC_0105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1183" data-original-width="1600" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGBbOeAH6IN_ZaSPtWqe_6LmPnQ_KV2An2vPa7Vl2KBaYjUShKrXU2WpiFsfnPJTUXmyAYQ9Djj7rwoKHbCZ9uQz0veKIZDYGgeaCudlodcNIFas8sDPW_Tq08cFXpQzTJjj6zdkUxG4/s400/DSC_0105.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This campaign will actually be primarily following Leon, which is why I wanted to show some Claire love here!</td></tr>
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Finally, the decks need to be prepared and then you're ready to go. First of all, there's the Tension Deck...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYV4UCCAq3TszsV14t9AHL4jJ4EDkkPcgJYJpXEWsM6UarAA8R_kTX_oXjAh4EkifQotpGrUtfLqrilUsZaCbGzWRz4IRECLQhX6jotDM4wRVTH5UXgAaPTcNHnUV-2b9xu5qrbzuPWk/s1600/DSC_0107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1600" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYV4UCCAq3TszsV14t9AHL4jJ4EDkkPcgJYJpXEWsM6UarAA8R_kTX_oXjAh4EkifQotpGrUtfLqrilUsZaCbGzWRz4IRECLQhX6jotDM4wRVTH5UXgAaPTcNHnUV-2b9xu5qrbzuPWk/s400/DSC_0107.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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At the end of each player's turn, a card from the Tension Deck will be drawn and resolved, with green cards having no effect, yellows presenting mild danger, and red being a high threat. The makeup of the Tension Deck is outlined on the scenario page in the Campaign Book, but the deck should usually consist mainly of green cards.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8t2U8lw_CJOAjCl3D1G8pmL8cHaP_ZHKWlNEHwHkpahgccbSXh0UTyIzxlS7E0MbAz7F_UjR-IBSP0eb8zrGQkq9oiLQkJGvMuGY_kHdqUXEAQoqv0uJVc9ci8CzgwkRG7Z3Qf_6HwZU/s1600/DSC_0108.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8t2U8lw_CJOAjCl3D1G8pmL8cHaP_ZHKWlNEHwHkpahgccbSXh0UTyIzxlS7E0MbAz7F_UjR-IBSP0eb8zrGQkq9oiLQkJGvMuGY_kHdqUXEAQoqv0uJVc9ci8CzgwkRG7Z3Qf_6HwZU/s400/DSC_0108.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then there are the Item Decks. Again, these are outlined on the scenario page, and are broken down into Item Deck A and Item Deck B, each of which can only be accessed by getting to a square with a corresponding token. Deck B tends to feature the more powerful - or scenario-critical items - but the tokens tend to be in more hazardous to reach areas.</div>
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And without further ado, it's time to get this campaign started!</div>
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<i>"The characters have arrived in Raccoon City, only to find it overrun! With the streets no longer safe, they must make their way to the Raccoon City Police Department, which should be much more secure..."</i></div>
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During each player's turn, they are allowed to make up to 4 actions, choosing from move, open/close door, search, trade, use item, and attack, with no limits to the number of times they can utilise one type of action. So players can either use a turn to sprint full-on towards the door, or could stand their ground and attempt to thin out an approaching hoard of zombies!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVk7xtJfYrnoql5pTZwgvQF2wPFdNrFuvBicJU_DTJze9PItV7G0rsRbaKmrTdf-czMAH1lBOEdJ1cgKg3evuv0Z7ctZ82xF7pnH4zt5G91rFL3_w22dJMnQhobMyUShNMkWx-dB-0R4/s1600/DSC_0109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVk7xtJfYrnoql5pTZwgvQF2wPFdNrFuvBicJU_DTJze9PItV7G0rsRbaKmrTdf-czMAH1lBOEdJ1cgKg3evuv0Z7ctZ82xF7pnH4zt5G91rFL3_w22dJMnQhobMyUShNMkWx-dB-0R4/s400/DSC_0109.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Seeing as Leon has started the scenario 2 spaces away from a zombie - and also for the purpose of explaining game mechanics - he's going to use his first action to attack.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZm_Ijf53a_CwV_aAf0jBL4ym2IElFzyK4Tcs7fjc1pPtX9Kp1fM3IGZ5Rs591mgXFmqZw6Vg-h7lP5iwFGHNuND7Z-7GbKGtFktLBQmV5wbeOOmCKGSch82J9iDKBxUus-5ROfaLKVQ/s1600/DSC_0110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1112" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQZm_Ijf53a_CwV_aAf0jBL4ym2IElFzyK4Tcs7fjc1pPtX9Kp1fM3IGZ5Rs591mgXFmqZw6Vg-h7lP5iwFGHNuND7Z-7GbKGtFktLBQmV5wbeOOmCKGSch82J9iDKBxUus-5ROfaLKVQ/s400/DSC_0110.JPG" width="277" /></a></div>
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Each weapon has different stats which are covered on the corresponding card. Left to right, the first stat is the range - "LOS" indicating that if the enemy is in Leon's line of sight, he can shoot it. Next is the number of attack dice to roll - the blue "1" indicating that one single blue die must be rolled. The dice have impact and double-impact symbols on them, and the next two boxes show the results of those rolls. The arrow under the single impact means the enemy would be pushed back one square, whereas the "1" under the double-impact means that one point of damage would be done to the enemy; enough to kill a basic zombie, but just a scratch to larger enemies.</div>
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The bottom of the card shows any special features of the weapon. In this case the three bullet symbol indicates that the pistol is a rapid fire weapon, meaning that up to three bullets (and thus up to the three dice) can be used in a single action.</div>
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As I don't want to be too frivolous with my limited ammunition, I'm going to fire 2 shots at the zombie...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmfz5xg_Zma0wz4UBSnzU9_bdlqhqai-qFFz3JPk9WFONtfptAjCSF0bTy0euVpisa04EnotuJWZol0dpOhDN86fQOPBpqimMiuhiX1SVT2_icSKDClujOYSmLGlHItOnFkBo8zhpcrY/s1600/DSC_0113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1173" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbmfz5xg_Zma0wz4UBSnzU9_bdlqhqai-qFFz3JPk9WFONtfptAjCSF0bTy0euVpisa04EnotuJWZol0dpOhDN86fQOPBpqimMiuhiX1SVT2_icSKDClujOYSmLGlHItOnFkBo8zhpcrY/s400/DSC_0113.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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One single impact - the zombie has been pushed back, but is still on its feet...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4A6Dqa0otdUFmwI1Qs58DUae5auazgguqEYNyoiJEh6gUe0-MgBCxTA70Ib76LpYcS9eVHLRMrgB4xST7VMdKTPHWj6kmJKS2eTivvVssuQbbqryZ2ItXQgu4WdIRrFfd2RJmz6xaVlE/s1600/DSC_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1436" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4A6Dqa0otdUFmwI1Qs58DUae5auazgguqEYNyoiJEh6gUe0-MgBCxTA70Ib76LpYcS9eVHLRMrgB4xST7VMdKTPHWj6kmJKS2eTivvVssuQbbqryZ2ItXQgu4WdIRrFfd2RJmz6xaVlE/s400/DSC_0111.JPG" width="358" /></a></div>
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...and now I've expended 2 rounds of handgun ammo, taking the count down from 15 rounds to 13.</div>
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After a second, single-shot attack which knocked the zombie back again, I moved Leon forward 2 spaces to complete his 4 actions, and ended the turn. Now it's the zombies' turn!</div>
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After each player completes their actions, the zombies have a Reaction Phase. During this phase, all enemies within range of a player will make an attack, and any which aren't within range will move towards the nearest player, as long as they're on the same tile or a connected tile. This is where the importance of doors comes into effect. If a door is closed, the two tiles are no longer connected, and enemies will stay where they are. This can lead to some serious tactical decision making, over whether to spend a precious action taking the time to close the door behind you, or whether to leave it open and hope that you don't get (literally) bitten on the behind over the decision later on!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgrJ-mmd69uN9fzBkIlrh-rpADf5lQ_OnAgyk76RO2mBzlYBf8h69dBPGiOUAFW1s3r23lTo9MDIfUDyaP1VyfJOnyXPjM8YAd23-FRJXfUSFudAbkrhrxSKpd4KaJCcoe4IwOu7AhQY/s1600/door.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="500" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgrJ-mmd69uN9fzBkIlrh-rpADf5lQ_OnAgyk76RO2mBzlYBf8h69dBPGiOUAFW1s3r23lTo9MDIfUDyaP1VyfJOnyXPjM8YAd23-FRJXfUSFudAbkrhrxSKpd4KaJCcoe4IwOu7AhQY/s400/door.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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After the enemies have all made their actions, the final phase of the turn is to flip over and resolve a card from the top of the Tension Deck. Fortunately as this is the tutorial scenario, 16 of the 18 cards in the deck are green (no effect), so at least I should be fi-</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZZqEHhQP8AfsmAcSKl19NBG2RyhEZ3vlid_xwoBwEdjTLylI-O0_9ZPzam2TI5LgUdPgjxgrmIvgZSls8pARYaEHgvObZTCTepNhBt6VUeEF_ZU-tyQVXPaYnhohuT4_zZkZDzMe6mw/s1600/DSC_0114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1311" data-original-width="1600" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ZZqEHhQP8AfsmAcSKl19NBG2RyhEZ3vlid_xwoBwEdjTLylI-O0_9ZPzam2TI5LgUdPgjxgrmIvgZSls8pARYaEHgvObZTCTepNhBt6VUeEF_ZU-tyQVXPaYnhohuT4_zZkZDzMe6mw/s400/DSC_0114.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Never mind.</div>
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Well it could have been worse. The red cards have the most serious effect. This one simply means that if I'm on the same board tile at the end of the next turn, I'll draw 3 cards from the Tension Deck instead of just one, thus increasing my chance of hitting the dreaded red card. Time to get out of here!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3LUJCxkmkW6p7RQ64X2-hJO3l0R-2qTL6puVz5nwcjPQMEctTnmYxwr-Vw-TJOrCNf_OfqVgs9IZcRHvEXxTNOJE4YpjtTizVYTrP3fpiZnciVLW24C9N5SN_5JwhJuOmNjeai9Lnag/s1600/DSC_0115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1315" data-original-width="1600" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3LUJCxkmkW6p7RQ64X2-hJO3l0R-2qTL6puVz5nwcjPQMEctTnmYxwr-Vw-TJOrCNf_OfqVgs9IZcRHvEXxTNOJE4YpjtTizVYTrP3fpiZnciVLW24C9N5SN_5JwhJuOmNjeai9Lnag/s400/DSC_0115.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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With ammo being scared, and 3 rounds already depleted, I decided to try and run past the zombie to get to the door! But as anyone who's played the<i> Resident Evil</i> videogames will know, zombies are grabby creatures, and will not just idly stand by as you waltz past. For those of you questioning the curved arrows on the attack dice from the previous shot, this is where they come into play.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfS0jtn0RpY3txrwDorvCeFl3RDlIPsCb2vn8-jEnuk3Xj-CoAkFz6j2lv0KgQlW8N9xLpAFjcpsoGNbd7EbhL9n7BETH-kcFKYSEZTGNYZIu5ais8_RbjsiVNMUV8cHx6erhePG_DN1U/s1600/DSC_0116.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1454" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfS0jtn0RpY3txrwDorvCeFl3RDlIPsCb2vn8-jEnuk3Xj-CoAkFz6j2lv0KgQlW8N9xLpAFjcpsoGNbd7EbhL9n7BETH-kcFKYSEZTGNYZIu5ais8_RbjsiVNMUV8cHx6erhePG_DN1U/s400/DSC_0116.JPG" width="362" /></a></div>
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Each player's character card includes the number of dice they must roll to evade. If you attempt an action other than an attack while in a square with an enemy, you must pass an evade roll. In this case, my action was to run past the zombie, so I needed to roll at least one arrow to get past. Finally I struck lucky with my rolling and darted past the zombie with ease! If I'd failed the roll however, the zombie would have had a free bite at Leon and I would have lost the action.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-DDWIj6-JnHHWnXpDFjbdwM25O9u-hu2HJMRtCSvCkPVSMfKvWciz4QfIku45cRjlhpOebwIB4r8uNemGMDKUyVM0aMW5JOUi8q9FJY1Cs-B3jvNFtMKJACsKcuXUGXNyAZ1Y4ApB7o/s1600/DSC_0117.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-DDWIj6-JnHHWnXpDFjbdwM25O9u-hu2HJMRtCSvCkPVSMfKvWciz4QfIku45cRjlhpOebwIB4r8uNemGMDKUyVM0aMW5JOUi8q9FJY1Cs-B3jvNFtMKJACsKcuXUGXNyAZ1Y4ApB7o/s400/DSC_0117.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Dodging the zombie on my first attempt was a stroke of luck, as I had just enough actions to open the door and make it through before the end of the turn, negating the risk of the<i> Echoes in the Darkness</i> card. I've had to leave the door wide open for now, but I can close it next turn to give myself some breathing space.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqUzGYPZfGAc8MJ89JpRZR6jjyHksDDwPpXNEWNAHbMq_4Mh1zdba-tDO56efxupMpUV22EiFe0rVvaeOHQZcFaRahyphenhyphenisF4BICBkrY3_1Jde0hFck0Img4aD9P-BdjHVZ6017mU7yy-k/s1600/DSC_0118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1325" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqUzGYPZfGAc8MJ89JpRZR6jjyHksDDwPpXNEWNAHbMq_4Mh1zdba-tDO56efxupMpUV22EiFe0rVvaeOHQZcFaRahyphenhyphenisF4BICBkrY3_1Jde0hFck0Img4aD9P-BdjHVZ6017mU7yy-k/s400/DSC_0118.JPG" width="331" /></a></div>
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A couple of turns later and things are looking more promising! No red tension card yet, and I've now obtained an ammo refill for the handgun!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCShyTUxevKA5NP7je8IEgwiw1dATIdiQECXUyn5FBXDL37n1jkDO_PMGvUeb6WA6FuS5CH3K0tkx0Lks5dtCGOfgF8vhMPuWwZbLM37pWAIzuWuvMHmG31tWCWEspUt9VbLe0n_iQaVg/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCShyTUxevKA5NP7je8IEgwiw1dATIdiQECXUyn5FBXDL37n1jkDO_PMGvUeb6WA6FuS5CH3K0tkx0Lks5dtCGOfgF8vhMPuWwZbLM37pWAIzuWuvMHmG31tWCWEspUt9VbLe0n_iQaVg/s400/DSC_0119.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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After 11 increasingly tense turns (it turned out the dreaded red card was second from bottom of the Tension Deck!), Leon has made it through the streets of Raccoon City and through the front doors of the RCPD! Along the way he managed to pick up the shotgun from Item Deck B - a much more powerful weapon which will hopefully come in handy in later scenarios. It didn't come without cost, however, as an unlucky dice roll left Leon with an unfortunate zombie bite and one less health point.</div>
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As per the campaign rules, I was able to fully refill my handgun and add 3 extra rounds to the shotgun, but then had to discard the additional handgun ammo I'd picked up along the way. Had I found a healing item I'd have been able to use that between scenarios, but as it stands I'll be heading into scenario 2A with a minor wound to take care of.</div>
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So tune in for the next scenario and see how Leon gets on within the walls of the RCPD! As mentioned, this was the tutorial scenario, which made for quite plain sailing whilst also allowing a demonstration of the basic game mechanics. There are additional mechanics which come into play in later scenarios, so we'll cover those as and when we reach them!</div>
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For now, I hope you enjoyed Leon's little stroll around the zombie infested streets of Raccoon City, and come back for the next scenario of<i> Resident Evil 2</i>: <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2019/08/resident-evil-2-board-game-solo.html" target="_blank">The S.T.A.R.S. Office</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYP2T9jvVVlfNiOj4IlpElWdnSDLUda4cTCdZlPbW06oJDcvigABNwYV8NN01ElTNV684uHa5VNHl86_3BYqHQkElT9Mko1BlTNiLL41qXWqXH3d-hgoe3L4hnH3R2p8yL_N45V77ECeI/s1600/DSC_0098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1119" data-original-width="1600" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYP2T9jvVVlfNiOj4IlpElWdnSDLUda4cTCdZlPbW06oJDcvigABNwYV8NN01ElTNV684uHa5VNHl86_3BYqHQkElT9Mko1BlTNiLL41qXWqXH3d-hgoe3L4hnH3R2p8yL_N45V77ECeI/s400/DSC_0098.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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On a parting note, one of<i> Resident Evil 2'</i>s weak points is the box. While the insert is great for keeping the miniatures and cards secure and in good order even if stored on its side, it doesn't really leave much room for the plethora of tokens included in the game (made even more of an issue if you get your hands on the 3D upgrades!). As such, it's worth picking up a small hobby box - this one in particular was £3.99 from B&M, so shouldn't break the bank at all. This way you can keep them all nicely organised and easy to get your hands on whatever the scenario requires.</div>
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So, breaking down the game and giving it an initial score based upon the first few scenarios (score to be updated when the campaign is complete):</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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<i>Resident Evil 2: The Board Game</i> definitely captures the aesthetic of the source material, with survival favoured over the action more frequently seen in this genre.</div>
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<li><i></i>Solo mode is an option (huzzah!).</li>
<li>Campaign mode will appeal to hardcore gamers, while more casual gamers can enjoy the scenarios on an individual basis.</li>
<li>The mechanics are fairly straightforward, with the tutorial scenario easing players in nicely.</li>
<li>The components are generally of a high quality, as expected from Steamforged.</li>
<li>Mercifully short set up time, as long as the tokens have been pre-sorted.</li>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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<li>Some of the tokens are printed very darkly. The double-sided doors are a prime example, with it being difficult to tell at a glance whether the door is open or closed.</li>
<li>The game may have limited appeal to those who aren't established fans, and therefore have no prior attachment to the characters and settings.</li>
<li>The price is a little steep for the core game.</li>
<li>A better box design to incorporate some token space would have been nice.</li>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 2(?)</u></strong></div>
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While this campaign will be putting the solo mode through its paces, many of the scenarios demand a minimum of 2 characters. While up to four can be used (Leon, Claire, Ada Wong and Robert Kendo), the game does appear to be set up to favour 2 players.</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 90-120 minutes</u></strong></div>
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The game length will vary depending upon the chosen scenario. While it took me a while to get through the tutorial due to stopping for photos and typing, it probably should have only taken 15 minutes or so to get through. The more complex scenarios later in the campaign, however, promise quite extensive play experiences, and the estimated time given by Steamforged themselves is 90-120 minutes.</div>
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<strong><u>Replayability: Medium</u></strong></div>
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With a selection of different characters and scenarios, plus the random element provided by the tension deck,<i> Resident Evil 2</i> should have a decent degree of replayability. That said, there are only 8 scenarios in the core box including the tutorial, so a dedicated gaming group could probably exhaust them quite quickly.<i> The B-Files</i> expansion offers more scenarios and the <i>Survival Horror Expansion </i>adds additional characters to give it a little more shelf life, but the core box alone runs the risk of fizzling out amongst a single group.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Bright</u></strong></div>
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<i>Resident Evil 2</i> launched with the aforementioned expansions already available, along with <i>The Malformations of G </i>(and <i>The Malformations of G: B-Files</i>), giving additional bosses to butt heads with. All of this gives players the option of further fleshing out the core game once it starts to get a little stale. In addition to this, there is also the possibility that Steamforged may push on in the wake of<i> Resident Evil 2</i>'s popularity, and bring out titles connected to the other games in the series. After all, who doesn't want to wander the creepy halls of the original mansion, or flee from the Nemesis through the zombie-ridden streets of Raccoon City?</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £65</u></strong></div>
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<i>Resident Evil 2</i> does carry quite a hefty price tag, and will set you back somewhere around the £65 mark. While you may look at the above images and think you're getting a long of bang for your buck, it's worth remembering that these included all of the Kickstarter upgrades. The core set includes 4 characters, 12 zombies, 4 dogs, 2 lickers and 2 William Birkin boss models, which doesn't feel like much for the asking price.</div>
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<strong><span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;">INITIAL SCORE: 7.5/10 (8.5/10 with Kickstarter upgrades)</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Teapigs Darjeeling Earl Grey with a dash of milk and 2 sweeteners. Brew rating 10/10.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Did you enjoy this article? If so check us out on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Games-Tea-109084687102249/?ref=profile_intro_card" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/Games_And_Tea" target="_blank">Twitter</a> for more gaming goodness!</b></span></div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-24537379969102469552019-07-28T14:00:00.001+01:002019-07-28T14:00:57.273+01:00A Solo ApproachJust when you thought it was safe to go back in the tea cupboard!<br />
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That's right, Games & Tea still lives... sort of... barely. Unfortunately over the last couple of years some big life events have taken their toll, and the gaming group of which Games & Tea used to be comprised has drifted apart and gone their separate ways. At this point Teamaster Rob (myself) is the only remaining member, and while I still do manage to pull together a couple of people for a board game night every now and then, it's not frequently enough to really be able to get any decent reviews and playtesting done.</div>
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However, I do still have a lot of love for this blog, so it may be time to do things a little differently. Time to take a solo approach...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0-cASCytILN8Ei3n4VEiVSfR3vGS683JoIXOt6tBN9cxQsqtk5vxS3XWrBi8wOi_riplOHrIU9PDRkzUdQYcl07C0xE_14PHNj7ukhJyTVwqWVhmeuPtFUK3cys7MwGHpGZRSpMUOkU/s1600/Han+Solo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="480" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0-cASCytILN8Ei3n4VEiVSfR3vGS683JoIXOt6tBN9cxQsqtk5vxS3XWrBi8wOi_riplOHrIU9PDRkzUdQYcl07C0xE_14PHNj7ukhJyTVwqWVhmeuPtFUK3cys7MwGHpGZRSpMUOkU/s400/Han+Solo.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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With my addiction to board games in no way fading, and the number of board games with single-player options growing rapidly (only this weekend I've backed the exciting looking <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/etherfields-board-game?ref=user_menu" target="_blank">Etherfields</a> on Kickstarter), I'm going to focus the blog more on these solo outings. This doesn't mean I'll be abandoning multiplayer games altogether, just that I'll be reserving reviews of those for the rare occasions when the opportunities present themselves.</div>
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As an appropriate start to Games & Tea's return from the grave, I'll be looking at a Kickstarter game which arrived on my doorstep at the very end of last year:<i> Resident Evil 2: The Board Game</i> by Steamforged Games.</div>
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<i>Resident Evil 2</i> is nice enough to include a solo play option. It's largely like a 2 player game, but with a single player controlling both characters, but there are a couple of other rules tweaks to keep it balanced. So in the coming weeks (starting with this afternoon) I'll be attempting a solo playthrough of the main narrative campaign, and posting the results and thoughts on the overall single player gameplay.</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-84159651622561276652016-10-19T19:30:00.001+01:002017-02-21T18:31:45.886+00:00Joking Hazard: An Offensive Card Game From Cyanide & Happiness<div align="center">
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><strong><u>WARNING!</u></strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">This review features subjects which may cause offence. If you are easily offended by ANYTHING then for the love of God stop reading now!!!</span></strong><br />
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Almost 3 years ago to this very day we posted our review for <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/10/cards-against-humanity-party-game-for.html" target="_blank">Cards Against Humanity (UK Edition)</a></i>, and it proved to be our most popular review ever by an incredible margin. Now, whilst <i>CAH</i> didn't follow an original format (<i>Apples to Apples</i> being its main inspiration), it did set a pretty high bar for offensive "fill in the blank" games. Since its release there have been many <i>CAH</i> clones trying to capitalise on the success, but finally it appears to have a true spiritual successor: <i>Joking Hazard</i>, from <i>Cyanide & Happiness</i>.</div>
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<i>Cyanide & Happiness</i>, for those who may not be aware, is an online comic strip series. It features (usually two) stick-men, and over the course of three or four frames they play out an event which can sometimes be quite meaningful and moving, but most often dark and twisted. For an idea of their format, you can check them out <a href="http://explosm.net/" target="_blank">here</a> (but please come back to us afterwards!).</div>
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<i>Joking Hazard</i> follows a similar format to <i>Cards Against Humanity</i>, but instead of creating a joke with black and white cards, 3-10 players compete to create the funniest (and usually most offensive) <i>Cyanide & Happiness</i> comic strip.</div>
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The box contains 350 cards, each depicting a single frame of the comic. Many are generic and innocuous, but when combined in the right way can become something altogether more horrifying! Unlike <i>CAH</i>, there are no black card/white card equivalents; everything is just of one single card type.</div>
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Each player begins the game with 7 cards in their hand, and then one player - chosen through non-violent means, as dictated in the rules - becomes the judge for the first round. That player then draws one card from the top of the deck, and places it face-up in the centre of the table/floor/building site/satanic altar (here at Games & Tea we feel you should be able to play wherever you feel comfortable).</div>
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The judge then chooses one card out of their own hand to accompany this card. It can be placed either before or after the first card, depending on what the judge finds most fitting.</div>
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These two cards now form the "setup", and all of the remaining players now submit a card to the judge to be played as the final frame of the comic, and the judge must select their favourite to gain honour and glory (and also a point).</div>
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So in fairly standard offensive game fare, the players above have gone for options of violence, anti-Semitism, and sex. Once the judge has picked a favourite, that player gains a point, all players draw back up to 7 cards, and the next player around the table becomes the judge, repeating the process until one player scores 3 points and is declared the winner.</div>
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If a red-bordered card is drawn off the top of the deck then it becomes the final frame of the comic, and the players must instead create the two card setup from their hands. And that's pretty much all there is to it!</div>
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There are a couple of variants included in the rulebook, such as a set of drinking game rules, or "The Neverending Story", wherein each turn just adds a single frame to an ongoing strip, leading to the creation of truly epic stories!</div>
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Of course <i>Joking Hazard</i> will be primarily compared to <i>Cards Against Humanity</i> (at least until the <i>Joking Hazard </i>clones start hitting Kickstarter), and we have to admit we found it to have some advantages over its spiritual predecessor, and some disadvantages.</div>
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The big advantage is that due to the storytelling nature of each round, the cards played have to make sense. We've witnessed several games of <i>CAH</i> where points were won by players just because they played the most controversial white card, despite it not fitting with the black card whatsoever. With <i>Joking Hazard</i> any non-relevant cards played tend to draw few laughs, meaning that even those most controversial cards have to wait for their golden moment!</div>
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The largest downside is ironically in the same vain. We often found ourselves with setups which didn't work for any of our cards! Sometimes this was just down to nothing being suitable, but a lot of the time it was down to having a card with the perfect response, just being delivered by the wrong character.</div>
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The other downside is that the game creates a bit less of a social atmosphere than <i>CAH</i>. <i>Joking Hazard</i> is very visual by its nature, and quite a lot of the cards actually feature no dialogue, just actions or facial expressions. This means that when the cards are laid out on the table (altar... whatever), it's usually quietly with all of the players leaning over to read them, and this is where you can really feel the difference between everyone being told a joke, and everyone reading the joke for themselves. Now, in fairness, the rules do say the judge should read out the cards, but again those dialogue-free frames don't really work with reading out-loud, and some players don't feel comfortable with effectively acting out a scene. At face value it might not seem like much of a difference over the <i>CAH</i> format, but it does feel a little bit odd when you start playing. It's certainly not enough to ruin the game or make it an unpleasant experience by any means... just a little odd!</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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<i>Joking Hazard</i> is extremely easy to learn, pretty much taking just seconds.</div>
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If you're a <i>Cyanide & Happiness</i> fan, this will tickle your funny bone in all the right places.</div>
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Capacity for up to 10 players, making an excellent party game.</div>
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Requires a little more thought than <i>CAH</i> or most of its clones.</div>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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As with <i>CAH</i>, some people will find it offensive.</div>
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Sometimes it can be tricky to play a fitting card for the setup.</div>
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Can create an odd non-verbal atmosphere.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 4+ (The more the merrier!)</u></strong></div>
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Again, as with most games of this format, 3 players is the minimum requirement for the game, but 4 players is the minimum to get a decent selection of cards going for the judge to choose from. Of course you could always import the Rando Cardrissian rule from <i>CAH</i>, as we did!</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 20-40 minutes</u></strong></div>
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If you're just playing to the three point win condition in the rulebook, a game of <i>Joking Hazard</i> will last about half an hour. Of course, this is one of those games where you can set your own win condition or just say "to hell with it, let's keep playing!", so games can go on for as long as you want!</div>
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<strong><u>Replayability: High</u></strong></div>
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There are a lot of cards available in the base set, creating a truly gargantuan number of possible strips. With a set gaming group it should last for quite a while, but with a group of rotating members it could feasibly last for years.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Bright</u></strong></div>
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At the moment <i>Joking Hazard</i> is fresh of Kickstarter, and the only expansion is the <i>Blast From the Past</i> 50 card pack, all set to a historical theme. However, the fact that there's already an expansion ready to go means that there will almost certainly be more to follow, and the idea of them being thematic is very appealing.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £25</u></strong></div>
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<i>Joking Hazard </i>is now available to buy on Amazon for £25. Whether it will remain an Amazon exclusive much like <i>CAH </i>or whether it will quickly find its way onto the shelves of hobby stores remains to be seen. It is also currently available to buy online through the <i><a href="http://store.explosm.net/products/joking-hazard?variant=21647531524" target="_blank">Cyanide & Happiness</a></i><a href="http://store.explosm.net/products/joking-hazard?variant=21647531524" target="_blank"> store</a> for a price of $35, which includes the aforementioned <i>Blast From the Past</i> expansion.</div>
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<strong><span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;">OVERALL SCORE: 8/10</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Tetley with milk and 2 sweeteners. Brew rating 7/10.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">If you enjoyed this article and want to see more of the same, come and like us on our </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gamesandtea" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook page</span></a><span style="color: cyan;"> to keep up to date with our reviews, as well as our general day-to-day ramblings!</span></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-20241121071322335112016-03-26T20:30:00.001+00:002016-07-31T11:55:22.695+01:00Exploding Kittens: A card game for people who are into kittens and explosions... and laser beams... and sometimes goats.<div style="text-align: justify;">
We certainly can't be described as having been active at Games & Tea over the last 18 months. The sad fact of the matter is that our play/review group has drifted apart, and gaming sessions are few and far between these days. However, this doesn't mean we don't still thoroughly love a good game. All it means is that we've accepted the fact that our content won't be as frequent as it used to be (for the time being, at least), but we'll still be posting as and when we get the chance to play and review something different.</div>
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So, we've recently introduced the first newcomer of the year to the Games & Tea library, and are filled with joy (and TNT) to bring you our thoughts on the game. We give you <em>Exploding Kittens</em>; a card game for 2-5 people by Elan Lee, Shane Small and Matthew Inman.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEija4u4yrbnK-ZRmLrdTV__e8m2noYllFq1u1LItg0UNWazypQKUp1XtjR500Qnh1DoDXr4AllGlTyGQXyrd2GVOSPuaMDxzX-xhw59rU0HV5tXETWuMXQjyUaN7-XHppYC7QNT1BzWf1Y/s1600/DSCF6943.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEija4u4yrbnK-ZRmLrdTV__e8m2noYllFq1u1LItg0UNWazypQKUp1XtjR500Qnh1DoDXr4AllGlTyGQXyrd2GVOSPuaMDxzX-xhw59rU0HV5tXETWuMXQjyUaN7-XHppYC7QNT1BzWf1Y/s400/DSCF6943.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em>Exploding Kittens</em> began life as a Kickstarter campaign, and we should probably take a moment to say it's kind of a big deal. With its simple game mechanics, illustrations from popular comics website The Oatmeal, and cats (it's the internet, cats are just what we do), it went on to become the most backed project in Kickstarter history. With such a legacy, it was fairly safe to say we had high expectations going in!</div>
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<em>Exploding Kittens</em> is a card game version of Russian Roulette, with players drawing cards from a single, communal deck. If they draw an Exploding Kitten they are blown up (not literally, in any of our playtests) and out of the game. The game continues until only one player remains free from kitten-based destruction, and that player is declared the winner!</div>
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However, it's not a game of pure random chance. Different cards throughout the deck allow players to defuse their Exploding Kitten, attack other players, steal cards, and a range of other actions all designed to keep the feline menace at bay!</div>
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Let's start at the beginning, and look at how the game works...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5P2cg-stZ-yVqQ2pm9dazkIyPig-1phjgmrmZyBXL84LpLJbxr65Ex9qYZH27cz0AVTQlNSej6-D6NpQVimjh2ERV1BGgdqGRf7xSpoeFNfMHxO6eHW9vTNe2RPTp3GfRLD36BEtFcRQ/s1600/DSCF6944.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5P2cg-stZ-yVqQ2pm9dazkIyPig-1phjgmrmZyBXL84LpLJbxr65Ex9qYZH27cz0AVTQlNSej6-D6NpQVimjh2ERV1BGgdqGRf7xSpoeFNfMHxO6eHW9vTNe2RPTp3GfRLD36BEtFcRQ/s400/DSCF6944.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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As mentioned, <em>Exploding Kittens</em> is a game for 2-5 players. There are four Exploding Kitten cards in the deck, and the game should be played with one fewer kitten than there are players (so 2 EKs in a 3 player game, 3 in a 4 player game etc). One immediately obvious benefit of this system is that it guarantees a winner by the time the deck is depleted, eliminating the discard pile reshuffle so common to most casual card games.</div>
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Each player takes one Defuse card (which we will come onto shortly) and four random cards from the deck as their starting hand, the Exploding Kitten cards are shuffled into the deck, and the game begins!</div>
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During each players turn they can play as many cards as they wish from their hand. They may choose to play everything, or they may decide to keep hold of all their cards for the moment, and in <em>Exploding Kittens</em> there is no limit on hand size. Once they're done playing cards, they end their turn by drawing one card from the top of the deck. If they draw an Exploding Kitten, then BOOM!!!</div>
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So, in order to keep the game from being completely random and no fun whatsoever, <em>Exploding Kittens</em> includes a number of options to protect players from the titular moggies. The most straightforward of these being the Defuse card...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36-FISGpQg_v8x1S7dPHqZ7en9QCr3ZUCRm9fStV6WdI-yXweaOeioTSX8VdMV6nLkf9GlSQzNuG8cUc1gnjWQOJ9bc4FYO98oro7xAN9SFDxz0s5mdRFydb9rT6DqRG1NDwSjjMNJ-w/s1600/DSCF6945.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh36-FISGpQg_v8x1S7dPHqZ7en9QCr3ZUCRm9fStV6WdI-yXweaOeioTSX8VdMV6nLkf9GlSQzNuG8cUc1gnjWQOJ9bc4FYO98oro7xAN9SFDxz0s5mdRFydb9rT6DqRG1NDwSjjMNJ-w/s400/DSCF6945.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Defuse cards each feature a different method for distracting/pacifying a kitten, from a laser pointer to belly rubs. The illustrations are just for amusement value though, and they all serve the same purpose. If a player uses a Defuse card when drawing an Exploding Kitten, they remain in the game and can reinsert the kitten into the deck wherever they like. To be cruel to the next player in line, it's often a popular move to place the Exploding Kitten back on top of the deck! This is by no means a foolproof tactic, and can backfire drastically, if that player also has a Defuse card or one of the other varieties of card in the deck.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgALPLYdHxzSZmSJIQrQkuAWHjBKDn9V1RuhyphenhyphenVjyWrY_smNgHVpBVvrOsvba-j6XwLi3y5OkpWfviUNXRRPf6FjaZw1HUNrrQItbdJLkINYrLp-obHuYn2TmlhjG2UGFZDQa2PzoUQfY/s1600/DSCF6946.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNgALPLYdHxzSZmSJIQrQkuAWHjBKDn9V1RuhyphenhyphenVjyWrY_smNgHVpBVvrOsvba-j6XwLi3y5OkpWfviUNXRRPf6FjaZw1HUNrrQItbdJLkINYrLp-obHuYn2TmlhjG2UGFZDQa2PzoUQfY/s400/DSCF6946.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The first option players have in their arsenal is the Skip card. It allows players to immediately end their turn without having to draw a card, thus avoiding the risk of explosions. Attack cards are the next aggressive step up from Skip, not only allowing players to avoid drawing a card, but forcing the next player to take two turns! Double explosion risk! Shuffle cards do exactly as you'd expect, and can mess up best laid plans - especally useful in conjunction with See The Future, which givesthe player a look at the top three cards in the deck. Favours force a player to give a card away, and the Nope card can be played responsively to negate any of the above (even another Nope, turning it into a Yup).</div>
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Between all of these assorted action cards, players will usually have an option to avoid kitty destruction early on in the game, but as time rolls on options will become depleted and the pace of the game takes on a more frantic tone!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Iu07XVmOnugg1VXT3QlKsj9nlDmf-_jskBoEMCQt3Is9w4P7Em9xTM9UkgcpFQYwy8v4KgR1F22G3ZjYi9UJzTMD3UDM5YCdcEib7Zpdxe7IRJTy-wES7gI4sLjMiLf2hLL6PsciHko/s1600/DSCF6948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Iu07XVmOnugg1VXT3QlKsj9nlDmf-_jskBoEMCQt3Is9w4P7Em9xTM9UkgcpFQYwy8v4KgR1F22G3ZjYi9UJzTMD3UDM5YCdcEib7Zpdxe7IRJTy-wES7gI4sLjMiLf2hLL6PsciHko/s400/DSCF6948.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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In addition to the various actions, there are a variety of Cat cards emblazoned with a selection of non-explosive cats, from Rainbow-Barfing Cat, to Tacocat (who is very proud of his palindrome status). These serve no purpose alone and can only be played as a pair, but once played they allow the player to steal a random card from an opponent. Not the most devastating action available in the game by ny means, but if played against someone who only has a single card left in their hand, it can be very useful!<br />
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And that's all there is to it! Play cards, draw cards, infuriate your opponents, and pray to the higher powers you don't find yourself on the wrong end of an Exploding Kitten! So that's the mechanics out of the way, how does it actually fare as a game in practice?<br />
Well for one thing it's incredibly simple to learn - we wouldn't even describe it as having a learning curve, seeing as the learning process is so quick that it never has the chance to form a distinct shape. The box boasts "2 minutes to learn", and frankly we're convinced that one minute of that is spent figuring out that the instructions are tucked inside the box lid and then unfolding them.<br />
Once the game gets going, it's very fast moving and entertaining. Not only do you never have long to wait for your turn even in full 5 player games, but it's fun to watch the other players sweat and argue as the deck moves closer and closer to one of the kittens. It can be infuriating at times when your friends mercilessly turn on you, but the number of Defuse and assorted action cards are so much higher than the number of actual Exploding Kittens, that escaping or avoiding the explosion is actually far more common than being caught in it.<br />
Purely from an aesthetic point of view, we feel we should point out that <em>Exploding Kittens</em> is wonderful to look at. Not only are the the illustrations an absolute joy, but almost all of the cards are different. Each Exploding Kitten is getting up to different destructive mischief, each Defuse is a different method of cat pacification, each Attack is a different form of aggression, and so forth. Only the Cat cards - which must be played as pairs - have identical illustrations, and this is understandable.</div>
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And also, pairing aesthetics with practicality, the box is pretty darn nice too! </div>
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Decorated inside with more of Matthew Inman's illustrations, the box is sturdy, precisely the right size for the game, and is divided into two sections so you can even play a round in a place where space is simply unavailable, using the empty side of the box for the discard pile.<br />
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But the world can't all be sunshine and rainbows (or even Rainbow Barfing Cat). The biggest weakness of <em>Exploding Kittens</em> has to be 2 player games. It seems to be a running problem with card games, that as soon as you drop to two players and the "back and forth" routine begins, the game loses its lustre. It also leaves the game susceptible to a card hoarding tactic, enabled by the unlimited hand size. Unlike larger games, where a certain momentum can be reached, two players can simply draw and keep cards indefinitely until the single Exploding Kitten in the deck is revealed, at which point both players can simply play everything they have in one go to see who ultimately wins. It's not a very exciting way of playing, but if one player does it then the other has to in order to compete. In a game all about explosions, it really is the nuclear option.<br />
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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Quick to play, and even quicker to learn.</div>
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Beautifully illustrated - quite possibly the nicest looking game in our library.</div>
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An excellent way to enrage your closest friends.</div>
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Cats. Who doesn't like cats?!</div>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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Less enoyable and prone to being broken with only 2 players. In fact we'd even go so far as to say it flat-out doesn't work as a 2 player game.</div>
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A little pricey for a card game.</div>
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Apparently some people find the notion of exploding kittens "distasteful". Here's hoping those people never find out about <em>Kittens in a Blender</em>.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 3-5</u></strong></div>
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As we highlighted above, <em>Exploding Kittens </em>can become something of a joyless back-and-forth slog with just two players. Any more than two is great, and five is just epic.</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 10 minutes</u></strong></div>
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It doesn't take particularly long to get through a round of <em>Exploding Kittens</em>, seeing as the draw deck never needs to be replenished. Games can range from 2-20 minutes, so we figured 10 was a good average.</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: High</u></strong></div>
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<em>Exploding Kittens</em> is short, light-hearted, and leaves the losing players wanting to exact revenge on the winner. As a result, it tends to get replayed quite a lot!</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Nuclear?</u></strong></div>
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At the moment there are no expansions for <em>Exploding Kittens</em>, nor any mention of them on the official website. However, in theory it should be easy enough to incorporate a few more cards and different types, and the box definitely has room to accomodate them. Given the incredible Kickstarter success of the game and a strong commercial follow up, we certainly wouldn't be surprised to see more on the horizon in the near future.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £18</u></strong></div>
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There are currently two versions of<em> Exploding Kittens</em>: the version featured in this review, and a NSFW Edition, which is somewhat more adult and apparantly features Boob Wizards. Either version will set you back roughly £18, and are quite readily available from gaming stores. We'd like to point out that yes, you can get them for £16 on Amazon, but we didn't for two reasons:</div>
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1) We like to support our local hobby stores, and would encourage all gamers to do the same.</div>
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2) The copies on Amazon don't meow. Check your local gaming store and you can probably get a copy in a meowing box.</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10 (3-5 players), 2/10 (2 players)</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"></span></strong> <strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: None. Lemsip all the way, on account of a lovely cold and sinusitis. Congestion Rating: 4000/10</span></strong></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-21063830263363629132015-06-28T14:57:00.000+01:002016-03-25T19:05:25.231+00:00Argent: The Consortium, Part 1: Box Contents<div style="text-align: justify;">
The hardest part about reviewing any game with a colon in the title is having a double-colon article headline. That really is quite frustrating. However, we're going to push through the pain as we bring you the latest review from our mighty game pile: <i>Argent: The Consortium</i> (oh God, we've done it again!) from Level 99 Games.</div>
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This had been sitting in a box for the last 3 months, with every intention of using it for our next unboxing podcast. Unfortunately it seems that assembling the team for a game is considerably easier than assembling for a recording session, so eventually the decision was made to just open the damn thing and actually get some games out of it! So here we now are, with this article for your reading pleasure as a result.</div>
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You lucky lot.</div>
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Anyway, 8am caffeine-fuelled ramblings aside, <i>Argent: The Consortium</i> is a Euro-style resource management game for 2-5 players. The game is set in a magical university, and the university chancellor's seat has been left vacant. Each player takes on the role of a high-ranking member of the university faculty, and through resource-gathering and worker-placement they must win as many votes as possible over the course of 5 rounds, securing themselves as the next chancellor.<br />
As is our usual MO for board games, we'll be vigorously studying (see what we did there?) the box contents in this article, before a thorough exam (okay, we're done with school puns now... maybe) of the gameplay mechanics in part two.<br />
So, wands down, time for first period, and let's see what's inside the box of delights.<br />
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Before getting into the box, let's talk about the box itself. With Kickstarter projects we like to talk about how professional the overall presentation of the game is, and the quality of the game components. Obviously most Kickstarter games are run by very small companies or even just a couple of enthusiastic individuals, so at prototype stage we never scrutinise the physical quality of the game, just the gameplay. Once it's been published, however, the rules change - small company or not, if you're putting your game on the shelves then you're throwing down with the big boys, and should be offering up a product which can hold its own! The podcasted, but currently un-reviewed <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/podcast-clash-dawn-of-steam-first.html" target="_blank">CLASH! Dawn of Steam</a> </i>was an example of a Kickstarter project which didn't result in a retail-quality product, whereas <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/03/podcast-404-law-not-found-first.html" target="_blank">404: Law Not Found</a> </i>showed us all how it's done!<br />
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We're happy to say <i>Argent</i> falls into the latter category. It's a big-box game of a similar kind of size to the likes of <i>Arkham Horror</i>, <i>Smallworld</i>, <i>BioShock Infinite: TSoC</i> and so forth. When you pick it up for the first time you notice the weight straight away - this is a game with a lot of content and it's not shy about it! The box itself is nicely illustrated, cleanly printed, and of a solid build. This is something which can end up in the middle of a big game pile and not come out any worse for wear on the other side.<br />
It straight away gives you an idea of the overall styling of the game as well, which we feel is going to prove a divisive point amongst gamers and possibly harm <i>Argent's</i> potential audience. As an American game built on Euro-game mechanics, Level 99 have interestingly chosen a Japanese Anime/Manga style for the character artwork. It's bold and certainly very colourful, but will be less likely to strike a chord with the older generation of gamers, instead aiming much more towards the younger crowd. Time will tell whether this will impact the success of <i>Argent </i>in the long run, but we can't help but feel that a more classical illustration style would probably have appealed to a wider audience.<br />
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Anyway, enough about the box, time to delve into the contents!<br />
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If you're going to vie for chancellorship of the university then you're going to need a suitable candidate. In <i>Argent</i> there are 12 candidates to choose from: 2 each from 6 colour-coded departments within the university, which consist of Planar Studies, Divinity, Mysticism, Natural Magick, Sorcery, and the Department of Students. Each department can only have one candidate in the running for the chancellor's role, so each of the 6 Candidate Sheets is double-sided giving the players the choice of a male or female character from their chosen department.<br />
The sheets themselves are relatively simple, featuring an illustration of the chosen character, a summary of the turn sequence, a space for discarded cards, a list of starting items, and a track across the top of the card for storing the player's apprentices when they're not out running errands.<br />
A fair few games these days - such as <i>Zombicide</i> - choose to print their character boards onto thick, board-quality card stock, whereas many are content to just use a standard card thickness. <i>Argent</i> goes for the latter, but frankly the Character Sheets aren't really going to be getting handled, so there's no real risk of them becoming tattered in any hurry.<br />
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One of the unusual things about <i>Argent</i> is that it's a big-box board game without a standard board. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just a break from the norm. Instead there are 15 smaller boards, each of which represent a room in the university. Depending on the number of players, 8-12 of these boards will be used during the game, with the white-bordered rooms always in use, and the remaining rooms drawn at random, or selected based on one of the pre-set layouts in the rulebook. Each board is also double-sided, with side B featuring slightly more advanced rules for more experienced players.<br />
During each round, players will send their Mage tokens on errands to the various rooms throughout the university, and reap the rewards for their success (or failure) by way of various resources.<br />
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Well if we're running errands then we'd better have some minions to do it with! There are 6 different colours of Mage tokens, and the game comes with a set of reference cards to remind the players of the different Mages' abilities. The red Mages, for example, can wound an opponent's Mage and send them off to the infirmary. Green Mages are immune to wounding, and so are good for placing in key areas around the university.<br />
The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that there only 5 reference cards. Well the poor little yellow Mages (or beige, if you believe the rulebook... we don't) are neutral Mages - they have no special abilities, but when push comes to shove you might find yourself needing all the help you can get your magical hands on.<br />
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The actual models themselves are of decent quality. Many board games these days treat their players with tabletop-quality miniatures, which look amazing on the board but often result in a higher price tag. The models in <i>Argent</i> aren't particularly intricately detailed, but do the job, and at the end of the day they are simply playing pieces rather than miniatures.<br />
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You can't have a game called <i>Argent: The Consortium</i> without a Consortium. Well, you could, but it would be maddeningly illogical. It'd be like having a game called <i>Billy The Space Penguin</i> and basing it around a dinosaur named Joe. That way lies madness.<br />
As mentioned earlier, the aim of the game is to secure votes for your candidacy, and the Consortium cards represent the movers and shakers of the university whose votes you'll be canvassing. There are 18 Consortium Voters, but only 12 used in any particular game. As with the room boards, there are 2 white-bordered Consortium cards, which are always in play, and the remaining 10 are drawn at random. Each of the voters has a different voting criteria - one may vote for the player with the most gold, one for the player with the most mana, one for the player with the second-highest influence, and so on. Where the game becomes interesting is that only the white-bordered Consortium cards begin the game face-up, so at the beginning of the game the players will not know 10 of the win conditions. As the game progresses, they'll earn the right to peek at the face-down voters, and can then start to tailor their tactics to this new information.<br />
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The Consortium Voters need a place to hang out while the players are engaged in their <i>House of Cards</i>-esque political maneuvering, and so the Consortium Board becomes their home. The 12 voters take their places in the centre of the board, and the players' influence is monitored on the track around the edge. One of the constant, white-bordered voters always sides with the player with the highest influence total, so it's an important resource to chase after in the early stages of the game.<br />
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Without magic, it would be a fairly ineffectual magical university, and so the players are going to need some spells! The oversized Spell cards each feature a different spell, and each spell has 3 levels, which can only be unlocked through research. The first level allows the player to take a card from the deck and opens up the most basic capabilities of the spell, whereas further levels unlock its full capabilities. Depending on which Consortium Voters are on the table, it could be beneficial to have a wide range of low level spells, or just one or two which are fully tricked-out. Spells can usually only be used once per round, and can be used to gain resources, hinder your opponents, or give advantages to your own Mages as they scurry about doing their master's bidding.<br />
Each player begins the game with a spell specific to their character, with the other spells having to be earned as the game progresses. There are also a limited number of Legendary Spells, but these have been sealed in the university vault where only the players' Mages have hope of locating them!<br />
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More cards! The other two major sources of resources are Supporters (top) and Vault Cards (bottom). Both can be secured by your wandering Mages to add to your arsenal during the round. Some of the Vault Cards are classed as Treasures, meaning that you can reap their benefits every round gaining gold, mana, influence, or bonus abilities. Others are classed as Consumables, which tend to offer a more powerful benefit but as a one-time thing. Supporters work in much the same way as Consumables, but again both of these can contribute towards the favour of particular Consortium Voters.<br />
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The final remaining type of card - the Tower Card - is an interesting addition to <i>Argent</i>. During each player's turn they are granted one action, and for that action they have the option of taking a Tower Card. Each player may only have one, and once the last one has been taken, the round ends. Each card bestows a different reward, from influence to the First Player token for the following round. This means that the round won't end until every player is ready for it to proceed, and so if you have a grand masterplan to implement, no one can rush you through it. They can also force players into difficult choices - do you place one of your Mages into a prime location on the board, or do you give up Mage placement for a turn in order to claim the Tower Card which adds to your influence?<br />
Once the round has been completed, all of the Tower effects are resolved, and then the cards return to the table for the next round.<br />
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This then just leaves the usual plethora of tokens. Once again these are cleanly printed onto good quality stock, so should stand the test of time as the games wear on.<br />
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One thing (or two, more accurately) we were disappointed with were the upgraded coins and mana tokens. Originally the coins were going to just be more card tokens, and the mana tokens would have been acrylic cubes, but these were both upgraded as Kickstarter stretch goals. If we're being completely honest, we can't help but feel they would have been better left in their original incarnations.<br />
Many games use card tokens for coins, and as long as they're cleanly printed then they don't detract from the gaming experience at all. The upgraded plastic coins are of the same sort of quality as the kind you'd find in a childrens' shopkeeper playset, and if anything actually lower the overall quality, feeling cheaper than the other game components. We may at some point further upgrade ours to metal roleplay coins, but would rather that we hadn't felt compelled to take that step.<br />
The decision to give the more random shapes to the mana tokens was understandable, giving them the general aesthetic of formless arcane energy, but the downside to this is a purely practical one - they don't fit in the box as well, and are a little more chaotic when you've amassed a decent number of them and they're piled all over your Candidate Sheet!<br />
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So those are the physical components of <i>Argent: The Consortium</i>. Our overall thoughts are definitely positive at this point. Aside from the plastic coins, everything seems to have been produced to a very high, professional standard. If this was handed to us and we didn't know it was a post-Kickstarter game, we would have thought it to be from a big game developer. The cards all have the satin finish which seems to be popular lately, which means that sleeving will probably be in order, but as the cards aren't cycled through as often as you'd expect, this isn't particularly urgent. Obviously the style of artwork will be very hit-or-miss with people, but regardless of opinions on the overall aesthetic, it's all definitely of high quality.<br />
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We've already played through a number of 3 player games, so over the next week we're aiming to try it out with different player numbers and then we'll be back with the gameplay verdict shortly! Stay tuned!</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-77355828970108903352015-05-31T17:12:00.000+01:002015-05-31T21:45:28.405+01:00Guild Ball - An Overall Sort-Of Review, Part 1: Team Lineups<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last year we mentioned a new tabletop system we were backing on Kickstarter, named <i>Guild Ball</i>, and a couple of weeks back we posted a brief <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/guild-ball-unboxing-sort-of.html" target="_blank">article</a> showing off the contents of our pledge after they'd arrived. To summarise, we were extremely impressed with the components, and were left feeling excited about our impending first games.</div>
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Now in that article we mentioned that we wouldn't be reviewing the gameplay of <i>Guild Ball</i>, wanting to keep the focus of Games & Tea on out-the-box games, but frankly we were so enamoured with the gameplay that we couldn't resist putting together another article giving it our overall thoughts.</div>
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The reason we've never been interested in reviewing full tabletop systems over board/card games is that there are too many variables to go into - we like to talk about turn sequences, game components and so on, but when there's an infinite possibility of actions to choose from each turn, and the components are determined by the shopping habits and play style of each individual hobbyist, it can be a struggle to keep the article at a decent length! As such this will be slightly different from our usual review format, and we hope you bare with us and still find it an enjoyable and educational read.</div>
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So for those who missed the Kickstarter, and missed our fanboy gushings over the game, and haven't seen it at the UK Games Expo (and so on and so on...), <i>Guild Ball</i> is a tabletop miniatures game which is half way between a sports game and a skirmish game. It's set in the fictional Empire of the Free Cities, where the great guilds all play each other at the titular game - a medieval mob football style game.<br />
The guilds are all based on areas of industry, and at the time of Season 1 there are 7 guilds to choose from; Butchers, Fishermen, Brewers, Masons (the Teamaster's personal favourites), Alchemists (the Tea Boy's personal favourites), Morticians and Engineers. While not a guild, there is also the Union, which can be fielded as a team, but who's members are also free to play for a selection of the other guilds.<br />
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Each team consists of 6 players. The captain and the mascot are both mandatory, and whilst we expect that later seasons will give us a selection, at this early stage in <i>Guild Ball</i>'s life each guild only has one to choose from. The remaining 4 places are where players get to customise their teams, and tweak them to match their preferred style of gameplay as they start to build up experience.<br />
This is where <i>Guild Ball</i> stands out from the only other major sports-based game on the market right now - <i>Dreadball</i>. It isn't simply a case of "These are your strikers, they kick the ball," and "These are your defenders, they stop your opponent from kicking the ball", each player has unique stats and abilities. So instead you have "This is Harmony, she can do all of these wonderful things", and "This is Mist, he's basically Batman". While the Union players are free agents and as such work as individuals, the guild-specific players all tend to have abilities to work off eachother. In the Masons Guild, for example, the team starlet - Harmony - gets an armour bonus when close to their heavy hitter - Brick - as he's protective over her. The team captain - Honour - gets an attack bonus when going after the same player as the mascot - Marbles. Now this does mean that it will take a few games before any new players even begin to squeeze the maximum potential out of their lineup, but the trade off for this is that the team rosters have an incredible degree of flexibility, helping players to become invested in their chosen guild rather than having to go down the route of collecting multiple teams to get any kind of replay value from the game.<br />
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Just to give an example, here are two of the starting lineups for the Teamaster's Masons Guild. The top team is pure Masons, and so there's a lot of synergy going on there. In the bottom team, 3 of the players have been dropped out in favour of Masons-compatible Union players, so while the team no longer gels quite so well, it's now much quicker and favoured towards fast strikes.<br />
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At the point of Season 1, most guilds have 7 players on their own roster, with 4 compatible Union players to choose from as well. So with the captain and mascot slots filled, this leaves 9 choices to fill the 4 remaining spaces, giving the players plenty of freedom to build a team to suit their style of play.<br />
And speaking of style of play, how do they work? Each player comes with a stat card, which tells players what they can do whilst at the same time allowing them to keep track of the damage done to that player...<br />
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The top bar of each card gives the player's stats, which come under 6 categories:<br />
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<li>MOV determines their base and maximum move distance, so for example 6"/8" means they can jog 6" or sprint/charge 8". The higher this number, the quicker the player.</li>
<li>TAC is the number of dice in their dice pool when attacking another player, so a higher TAC means a stronger attack.</li>
<li>KICK is the size of their kicking dice pool and the maximum kick distance, so 3/8" would mean an 8" kick range and 3 dice to try and succeed in that kick. The higher these numbers, the better chance of scoring goals and successful passes.</li>
<li>DEF is the player's base defense, and is the target number an attacker must roll in order to hit the player.</li>
<li>ARM is the player's armour, and dictates how much damage is deflected before getting through to the soft and squishy player underneath.</li>
<li>INF determines how much influence the player generates, and how much they can be allocated. So 2/4 means they'll generate 2 influence, but can be allocated up to 4. We'll go into influence in detail in the second part of the review, but in a nutshell it's the currency used to perform almost any action. Attacking, sprinting, passing, shooting - all of these require influence.</li>
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The Character Traits on the front of the card address any passive abilities the players possess, such as DEF boosts in the presence of other player, MOV bonuses, and so forth. The bottom of the card shows the players damage boxes - once these have been depleted then the player is knocked out.</div>
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The rear of the card tells you their base size and melee range, the details of any activated abilities, and explains how they cause damage in combat. Again, this will be further addressed in the next article.</div>
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Before we wrap this article up, we should also take a moment to talk about the quality of the miniatures, as this is a tabletop system and so the hobby element is a key part.<br />
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First of all, the sculpts themselves. Long gone are the days of hunched-over Space Marines, shuffling awkwardly around the battlefields of the 41st Millennium. These days, most miniature-based games do provide nicely detailed and dynamic models for hobbyists to enjoy. <i>Guild Ball</i> is no exception, and in fact has left us salivating over some of the nicest models we've ever had the pleasure of owning. The poses are incredibly dynamic for the best part, and even the ones which aren't don't feel disappointing.<br />
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In terms of casting quality and assembly, <i>Guild Ball</i>'s quality shines through. There's very little cleanup work required on the miniatures, with mercifully few mold lines and little to no flash on those we've built so far. They also fit together very nicely, and don't generally require the fine tools of a NASA engineer and the steady hands of a neurosurgeon to assemble them correctly. The only criticism we'd put forward is that the blisters include character artwork, but not an image of the built miniature, so we have on a couple of occasions found ourselves wondering where pieces go. In fact one of our Union models - Snakeskin - came with a dagger sheath which ended up in the spare bits box, as it didn't have an obvious place to go and the model seemed complete without it!<br />
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So that's all we really have to say on the subject of the teams. The model quality is astounding, the player lineup happily full of variety, and the synergy throughout the teams works to give <i>Guild Ball</i> an excellent learning curve.</div>
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Tune in for the second half of the review, where we'll talk about the gameplay, including how that influence works, gathering momentum, and the consequences of beating an otter into unconsciousness.</div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-36234208646704047882015-05-30T23:00:00.000+01:002015-06-08T00:07:07.684+01:00Batman Fluxx: A First Impressions Review/Preview<div style="text-align: justify;">
As most UK-based gamers will be well aware, this weekend is the 2015 UK Games Expo: an annual event held at the Hilton Metropole Hotel at Birmingham's NEC. This year was the second year that we were in attendance, and whilst a general write-up will be forthcoming, there was something else we wanted to report on first and foremost.</div>
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A couple of weeks ago whilst pootling about on Twitter, we saw a retweet of an announcement for <i>Batman Fluxx</i>. As fans of both of those words, this got pulses racing a little here at Games & Tea HQ. It's scheduled for release in early August, so it was put right at the top of our shopping list and no more was thought of it.</div>
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What we didn't realise was that this weekend Looney Labs would have a table at the UK Games Expo, and that <i>Batman Fluxx</i> would be one of the games available for demo (along with a couple of other <i>Fluxx</i> prototypes, which we can't mention due to the copyright negotiations still ongoing). So we had the opportunity to have a look through the deck, play a game with <i>Fluxx</i> creator Andrew Looney himself, and take a few photos along the way! Seeing as we completely overlooked the fact that is was Games & Tea's 2nd birthday just a few days ago, this felt very much like a belated present!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The head Looney himself - Andrew Looney - proudly showing off one of the latest additions to the <i>Fluxx</i> family!</td></tr>
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Now whilst we have done reviews of games in development before, this is the first time we've reviewed a game after just a single playthrough, and without a reference copy in front of us. For this reason we've branded this as a first impressions review/preview, and will be putting up a full review once we've gotten our grubby mitts on our very own copy, and put it through its paces to determine its replay value etc.</div>
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As with our last few <i>Fluxx</i> reviews, we'll be dispensing with the basic gameplay mechanics, and just address the elements of <i>Batman Fluxx</i> which make it stand out from the rest of the family. For those unfamiliar with <i>Fluxx</i> on the whole, take a quick look at our <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/07/monty-python-fluxx-ever-changing-monty.html" target="_blank"><i>Monty Python Fluxx</i> review</a>, in which we explained the game's core mechanic.</div>
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So to start with the basics, <i>Batman Fluxx</i> is <i>Fluxx</i> with a Batman theme - yes, this may sound like we're stating the obvious, but the point we're getting at is that you'll find the familiar New Rule and Action cards in the deck which are fairly universal, eg. <i>Draw 4</i>, <i>Trash a New Rule</i>, <i>Draw 2 and Use 'Em</i>, etc etc. And - as with all other <i>Fluxxes - </i>the backs of the cards are of the same universal design, meaning that they can be integrated into other decks.</div>
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Yes, this means you can have <i>Pirate Batman Fluxx</i>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Bring me the Jokarr!"</td></tr>
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On the front of the cards, the first thing to notice is the illustration style. <i>Fluxx</i> has always had a cartoony element to it, which both adds to its charm and serves to remind players that it's supposed to be a casual, fun game at its heart. Whilst the recent <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/love-letter-batman-edition-review.html" target="_blank">Love Letter: Batman Edition</a> </i>featured illustrations from the New52 comics series, such serious imagery would look very much out of place in a <i>Fluxx</i> deck. Instead, <i>Batman Fluxx</i> is filled with illustrations in the style of <i>Batman: The Animated Series</i>, which fits in very well with the general <i>Fluxx</i> feel. Combined with the classy art-deco style sidebar and font, and <i>Batman Fluxx</i> is a game which is aesthetically very pleasing to play.</div>
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The Keepers in <i>Batman Fluxx</i> cover a range or characters, gadgets and locations. As with most recent <i>Fluxx</i> incarnations, many of the Keepers have additional rules and abilities, just to keep the game moving at a more interesting pace. <i>Bruce Wayne</i>, for example (above), must be discarded if <i>Batman</i> ever hits the table. The <i>Batmobile</i> can be discarded to take an extra turn. <i>The Bank</i> increases your draw by 2, and so on. Other Keepers we remember off the top of our heads included <i>Robin</i>, <i>Batgirl</i>, <i>Commissioner Gordon</i>, the <i>Bat Signal</i>, and <i>Wayne Manor</i>.</div>
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The Creepers (of which we sadly forgot to take any photos, due to being so caught up in the gameplay!) are where the game truly becomes interesting. Each Creeper in <i>Batman Fluxx</i> is one of Gotham City's famous supervillains, and so there are a fair few of them in the deck. <i>The Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, The Penguin</i> and <i>The Riddler</i> are all out in force, to name a few, so the chances are your favourite villain will be in there somewhere! Now the most Creeper-heavy <i>Fluxx</i> edition to date is <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/08/zombie-fluxx-ever-changing-zombie-card.html" target="_blank">Zombie Fluxx</a></i>, and it worked very well because many of the game's Goals required Creepers in order to achieve victory. <i>Batman Fluxx</i> works in a similar way, with <i>Crazy Love</i>, for example, giving the win to the player with <i>The Joker</i> and <i>Harley Quinn</i>. Now the interesting thing with <i>Batman Fluxx - </i>and the thing which makes its Creepers unique - is that if the active Goal doesn't include Creepers then <u>no one</u> can win if there are Creepers on the table. This is a wonderful mechanic, first of all in that it gives players a Batman-style task of cleaning up the crime in Gotham City, and secondly in adding a whole new tactical element, as win conditions generally become harder.</div>
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That's basically all there is to say at this point about the new additions to the game! In terms of how it all works, it does really capture the Batman theme while keeping things casual. Things like the "no one can win" rule with the Creepers, <i>Bruce Wayne</i>'s exodus from the table as soon as <i>Batman</i> appears, and the <i>Bat-Signal</i>'s ability to 'summon' the dark knight from an opponent all fit together nicely. The Goals we saw during our game were all nice little references to the cartoon/comics lore, such as <i>Secretly His Daughter</i> for having <i>Commisioner Gordon</i> and <i>Batgirl</i> (we are fans of Babs over here). And of course the overall aesthetic is very pleasing, feeling very much like the cherry on top.</div>
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If we had to nit-pick (and as game reviewers, we do feel it's our duty), the win-condition difficulty increase as a result of the Creepers did feel like it would steer games of <i>Batman Fluxx</i> more towards longer play times than shorter ones. <i>Fluxx</i> has always been renowned for games lasting anywhere from 90 seconds to 90 minutes, but the Creeper rule does seem to skew things more towards the latter, which may put off a few players who would normally consider <i>Fluxx</i> to be a filler game.</div>
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One thing we will be interested to see, however, is whether it can convert a few non-<i>Fluxx</i> fans. It's always been a Marmite game in the gaming community, and we come heavily down on the 'love it' side of the line. With Batman being so wildly popular, we can genuinely picture a few folks being swayed over onto our side, where we will be ready to greet them with hugs, cake and "I told you so's".</div>
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With a normal review this is where we'd do a summary breaking down the pros and cons, the price, average play time and so on, but seeing as this only a first impressions review we'll dispense with that until the full review in a couple of months time. We will, however, quite happily give it a preliminary score based on our overall feelings from the day...</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><b>PRELIMINARY SCORE: 9/10</b></span></div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-35406102505462221412015-05-09T00:46:00.000+01:002016-04-10T15:53:24.973+01:00Diary of a Roleplay Beginner #4: Taking Charge<div style="text-align: justify;">
Teamaster Rob here! It's been a while since I last posted an article in the DoaRB series. When I penned the first article in the series, it was intended as a shared experience to help new players see that taking a step into the big old hobby-world of roleplay needn't be so scary and overwhelming. There are so many systems out there, and so many people who take the hobby so seriously, that to someone starting out it can seem very intimidating, and this series of articles was intended to show the story of my own personal introduction into it all.</div>
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<a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/09/diary-of-roleplay-beginner-1.html" target="_blank">Article #1</a> in the series was an introduction, talking about my initial interest in the hobby, how I fell upon my first roleplay system (Privateer Press' <i>Iron Kingdoms</i>, if you were wondering), and the first session I ever sat in on, despite not participating. <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/10/diary-of-roleplay-beginner-2-first.html" target="_blank">Article #2</a> told the tale of my first session of active involvement, and how I slowly got to grips with the "Seriously, you can do ANYTHING!" mechanic of roleplays. With my first session being purely narrative, <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/11/diary-of-roleplay-beginner-3-lets-get.html" target="_blank">Article #3</a> focused on the following session, which was my first taste of roleplay combat, as well as a few comments on my first negative roleplay experiences.</div>
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With those basics covered, the series dried up as I quite simply no longer considered myself to be a roleplay beginner. Not a veteran, by any stretch of the imagination, but at the very least an enthusiastic amateur.</div>
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In the following year I had the pleasure of trying out another couple of systems; <i>Firefly</i> and <i>Through the Breach</i>, albeit with just a single session in each. Again, I enjoyed the systems, and it was great to experience different rulesets, different GMs and different settings, not to mention the opportunity to play radically different characters. But there was one feather left to add to my roleplay hat, and that's the topic of this article...</div>
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<b><u>Enter the GM</u></b></div>
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That's right, the Teamaster is now the Gamemaster. I've always enjoyed writing, and since getting started in the roleplay hobby I've been aching for a chance to get behind the wheel and run my own session, but - just like my entry into RP - the question of where to start reared its ugly head.<br />
In terms of system, <i>Iron Kingdoms</i> seemed the logical choice - it was, after all, the system I was most experienced with. From what I've gathered from my limited experience of the various systems, it does seem to be fairly standard practice to provide an example scenario with the rules, and <i>Iron Kingdoms</i> was no different. There's a decent-length one shot session available to download from the Privateer Press website, providing a multiple-ended scenario, and all player characters, NPCs, and encounters laid out to take the bulk of the work off a new GM. As I started to assemble a team of players, this scenario was the one I planned to use for the evening.<br />
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But, fortunately, my brain never ceases to run with new possibilities. As tempting as the easy option was, it's always seemed like it would be more fulfilling to be capturing the imagination of your players and holding their attentions with a story of your own making, and so the <i>Iron Kingdoms</i> plan began to slip away in favour of something a little more ambitious, a little more exciting... a little more spacey...<br />
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Just because I adore board and card games, doesn't mean I don't enjoy my share of video games as well, and none more so than Bioware's <i>Mass Effect</i> trilogy. Not only do I love the story of the games and the characters, but it's an incredible universe in which the games are set, and so I decided it would be a wonderful setting for my first roleplay.<br />
This then moved me on to a brand new problem: which system should I use?<br />
<i>Iron Kingdoms</i> may have been my most familiar, but it's not exactly compatible with a futuristic space adventure. Storyweaver's <i>High Space</i> was a logical option, but would have required a fair chunk of reading and it wasn't a familiar system to any of my prospective players, so would have been slow going. So I did the smartest thing any geek with a problem can do in this day and age: I threw it out to the internet!<br />
Within 24 hours, <a href="https://twitter.com/N20Games" target="_blank">@N20Games</a> on Twitter threw back a suggestion of <i>Fate</i> - a name which vaguely rang a bell with my limited roleplay experience, but which I'd never looked into. And ye gods, I was grateful for the suggestion!<br />
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<i>Fate</i>, from Evil Hat Productions. For those unfamiliar with <i>Fate</i>, it's a rules-light, narrative-heavy roleplay system, designed to be generic enough to fit into any genre. Unlike other systems which have their own established universes, <i>Fate</i> is meant for gamers who may want to run a roleplay set in their favourite franchise (Star Wars, Marvel, Game of Thrones etc), or simply based upon their own original concept.<br />
For those who are absolute beginners to the GM world, there's also <i>Fate Accelerated Edition</i> (or <i>FAE</i> for short), which is effectively a set of quick-start rules for the system. They're quick to learn, quick to teach, and seem quite fluid to play, so <i>FAE</i> ended up being the template upon which my <i>Mass Effect</i> one shot would be based.<br />
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So that left the small matter of the story! At the time of posting this article the session is still a week away (and I will be uploading a follow-up article to talk about the results after the event), so I'm being cautious not to issue spoilers just in case any of my players may be reading!<br />
Being good friends with The Hobbynomicon's Caustic Triton, we very often talk about roleplays, and some advice he gave me a while back about writing a session came back to me very quickly. With a notepad and pen handy, and a decent knowledge of the background material already rattling around my grey matter, I started to write.<br />
One of the worst things a GM can do to their players is make them feel railroaded. A roleplay should feel like an open world to players, and if the GM is clearly funneling them down a narrow pathway then nothing they do will make the experience a good one. With this in mind, I wrote out a nice, descriptive opening scene to set the tone, and then proceeded to set out a series of bullet-points, with branches off a number of them to account for player decisions. To start with it seemed difficult, but once I'd got a very basic overall plot in my head, additional ideas started coming every hour or two, no matter where I was. Within the space of a week I'd got a pile of maps drawn up, NPC details, and a list of key events. I was pretty much ready to go on the story front, although more ideas continue to get added to the list of possible events for the session!<br />
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With a week and a half until the session, this left me with just enough time to indulge one of my favourite elements of the gaming hobby in general: miniature painting.<br />
As much as I'd love for it to be the case, no one has released a series of <i>Mass Effect</i> miniatures to this date. Mantic Games, however, have done some pretty damn good proxies in their <i>Deadzone </i>game. Seeing as many of my <i>Deadzone</i> miniatures were assembled but unpainted from my release-day purchase of the game back in 2013, I dug out the box and began to paint. With a week still to go, the lineup of player characters is starting to look pretty sweet...<br />
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Two humans, an asari, a quarian, a salarian and a turian are ready to report for duty, with a krogan next in line on the painting table. A handful of NPCs are also lined up in case I have time to paint them, but if not then I'll be happy with each player having a painted miniature to use.<br />
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The <i>Fate</i> system (and <i>FAE</i> in particular) is quite easygoing when it comes to combat, so most of the session's going to be descriptive, but I am planning a couple of epic moments for the toys to come out and shine!<br />
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So I think that's all I can say for the moment without risking spoiler posts! The session will be taking place next weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to come back with another update shortly afterwards, and talk about how well (or otherwise) it went! So for now, keep rolling, and may the dice be ever in your favour.</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-2226847023101355262015-04-15T15:56:00.000+01:002015-04-15T17:37:36.831+01:00Guild Ball: An Unboxing (...sort of)<div style="text-align: justify;">
Those of you with more impressive memories may remember us mentioning last year that we were backing a new tabletop game called <i><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1248312770/guild-ball-a-tabletop-medieval-football-game/description" target="_blank">Guild Ball</a></i>. Games & Tea always has been and always will be a card and board game blog first and foremost, but we are still tabletop hobbyists as well and couldn't resist sharing our enthusiasm about the whole thing when it first hit Kickstarter.</div>
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At the time we backed it we had the feeling it was going to be something special - everything from the overall aesthetic to the gameplay seemed beautiful - but we didn't realise just how much it was going to attract the attention of the hobby community. Now, with the retail release date just weeks away (April 27th) and introduction days cropping up all over the country, our Kickstarter pledge has arrived and we just felt compelled to show you all some photos of our shiney new toys!</div>
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<i>Guild Ball</i> is primarily a sportsball game with a bit of combat thrown in, and is based very much on grass-roots medieval English football. For our pledge level we went in for two teams (6 miniatures per team) all in metal, and resin base inserts were included for both teams. Once the game passed its funding goal and stretch goals became unlocked, we were also eligible for two additional "Union" models, which are affiliated with a couple of teams, so can hop around and give a bit of flexibility to the rosters.</div>
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We also threw in a little extra for some additional bits and pieces - a printed rulebook (the standard pledge just came with a PDF), some <i>Guild Ball</i> dice, and templates and markers.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMygcySjMRDiwAqwcxn8cP-ukP1vPpybfM1yYelvMKdft-O5fuT3GkogbHAttyvaoH8IQwd2mpND4AJiRR-baWm4UD2MV3Qqt26bkf1M69b9SKzitFmBTB9Gk_jejwhPlYq0mK-RpJKA/s1600/DSCF6621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOMygcySjMRDiwAqwcxn8cP-ukP1vPpybfM1yYelvMKdft-O5fuT3GkogbHAttyvaoH8IQwd2mpND4AJiRR-baWm4UD2MV3Qqt26bkf1M69b9SKzitFmBTB9Gk_jejwhPlYq0mK-RpJKA/s1600/DSCF6621.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-UzbLC3eT6GsDAqd8jeNUUCoABS9ogsz4RjHNAryXDW2nwPLOrEbswQDF5R2EXaKIEblICuxa5DGWDAOHK1Xz_VAyzCzwR5c1IvMHqNQp-y7Ex3ieOwStoEdZ6lpHTyv0U_ZeyptGI4/s1600/DSCF6622.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO-UzbLC3eT6GsDAqd8jeNUUCoABS9ogsz4RjHNAryXDW2nwPLOrEbswQDF5R2EXaKIEblICuxa5DGWDAOHK1Xz_VAyzCzwR5c1IvMHqNQp-y7Ex3ieOwStoEdZ6lpHTyv0U_ZeyptGI4/s1600/DSCF6622.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The rulebook was at the top of the box when we opened it up, so it was the first thing we noticed. On the original Kickstarter page it was listed as an A5 rulebook, so it was a very pleasant surprise to see a full A4 landscape-oriented book. Opening it up it's got gorgeous full colour artwork on almost every page, is clearly printed and laid out, and is just basically done to an excellent and professional standard.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Go7zKhPphUrhxMFfgm83D-f9Ld0FB2iWNOt_v-hHbyoO-FB1N22A38Cg2gfdU5S1kVAGqhPvKsReHtogB5EwA5TErliyTJA5XelOAMR_BfIv-rcb_qE70lyd0JeViwVeeT4oOQVojf4/s1600/DSCF6631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Go7zKhPphUrhxMFfgm83D-f9Ld0FB2iWNOt_v-hHbyoO-FB1N22A38Cg2gfdU5S1kVAGqhPvKsReHtogB5EwA5TErliyTJA5XelOAMR_BfIv-rcb_qE70lyd0JeViwVeeT4oOQVojf4/s1600/DSCF6631.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your eyes do not deceive you - this is an otter.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWTTphEOm-fwJ7bw7uxhqnMOlvZcm4pZrQRQ-c8YIP9ZsVXpqxQLLUoJkBk675Ml-Bm5VU3n1JsxVgu3qjniD17FXsuX2FaXgwaZxrs81suMtsms8tO1AHWeI-n01PMIURV0IjW6BcbQ/s1600/DSCF6632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIWTTphEOm-fwJ7bw7uxhqnMOlvZcm4pZrQRQ-c8YIP9ZsVXpqxQLLUoJkBk675Ml-Bm5VU3n1JsxVgu3qjniD17FXsuX2FaXgwaZxrs81suMtsms8tO1AHWeI-n01PMIURV0IjW6BcbQ/s1600/DSCF6632.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpPucOP0hiquORM1BNSLPif7YpSUI11KUK3n-0PHSSgYIwJkVuyWoECF34K_NZKlEEczbjg0M8qEcTkwFQ8nNYYhQE9TOP0Js5-4gWhUC9P2IWalmIyicg4mFailr7NTJod8LjdwAOOc/s1600/DSCF6628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTpPucOP0hiquORM1BNSLPif7YpSUI11KUK3n-0PHSSgYIwJkVuyWoECF34K_NZKlEEczbjg0M8qEcTkwFQ8nNYYhQE9TOP0Js5-4gWhUC9P2IWalmIyicg4mFailr7NTJod8LjdwAOOc/s1600/DSCF6628.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh balls...</td></tr>
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Once the rulebook had been salivated over it was time to rummage through the packing chips and fish out the miniatures (fairly appropriate, as one of our teams is the Fisherman's Guild). We had the option of going with metal miniatures or resin, and we ended up going for metal. Throughout our hobby years we've simply had overall bad experiences with resin, whereas we've always been comfortable working with metal, so it seemed the logical option. Now the advantage of resin is that it does allow for finer detail, which left us wondering if we'd slightly regret our metal decision, but after having a look at the models today we can assure you we don't in the slightest! Obviously as with all miniatures of any material there is some flash to trim back and some mold lines to remove, but the casting quality is absolutely amazing, the detailing is going to be a painter's dream, and the dynamic poses of the miniatures will give them pride of place in the display cabinet.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoAjznDjthh7P2KXLa9fo7lrPKtQVYqHkEdC0cKt5bBsXqb0cKu9_cqDWUFDb7p9r_KBN2m5WkCWcoszsBqvQ2f-MjioPOZAGJ0RHyoi2Z5PJpNE9rkrGL8jx4KdoqzsvZW0kGwnkKFs/s1600/DSCF6627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoAjznDjthh7P2KXLa9fo7lrPKtQVYqHkEdC0cKt5bBsXqb0cKu9_cqDWUFDb7p9r_KBN2m5WkCWcoszsBqvQ2f-MjioPOZAGJ0RHyoi2Z5PJpNE9rkrGL8jx4KdoqzsvZW0kGwnkKFs/s1600/DSCF6627.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's all about the base.</td></tr>
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The goals and the base inserts for the models were only available in resin, so we had to bite the bullet and hope for the best with these, and we weren't disappointed. Normally we make our own bases, but the inserts are cast to a great quality, and it'll be nice to have consistency across both teams.<br />
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A lot of tabletop systems these days utilise character cards, both as a quick-reference of their abilites and to keep track of their health. <i>Guild Ball</i> is the latest system to take this approach, and the character cards are printed onto good quality card stock, with nice clear print and more beautiful character illustrations throughout.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKqUAh8mQAFRcJDXTArmZpssrXSbIBCNv9ZThoQe8AIeNi3l6JL2K_p0jokDrX48GQLqn2RPoRMgXgvNHVYXM27fm390Ba4DYILLVZo4G8AB2NGy3Wp_qoinquXYlxKMMzrWRELytFO0/s1600/DSCF6623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggKqUAh8mQAFRcJDXTArmZpssrXSbIBCNv9ZThoQe8AIeNi3l6JL2K_p0jokDrX48GQLqn2RPoRMgXgvNHVYXM27fm390Ba4DYILLVZo4G8AB2NGy3Wp_qoinquXYlxKMMzrWRELytFO0/s1600/DSCF6623.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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And then that just leaves those last few odds and ends. The dice - embossed with the <i>Guild Ball</i> logo - and templates keep up with the manufacturing quality evident throughout the rest of the components.</div>
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To sum things up, there isn't a damn thing in this box which we've found fault with. Now we just need to assemble our pretty toys and play a few games!</div>
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We probably won't be putting up a gameplay review, simply because there starts the slippery slope away from being a board/card game review blog, but if any of our readers were thinking about giving <i>Guild Ball</i> a closer look then we hope this unboxing has helped! And once we've got some painting on the go then we'll upload some completed models into our miniatures gallery as well for your enjoyment.</div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-33151194701158900342015-04-12T22:26:00.000+01:002015-04-12T22:26:35.819+01:00Podcast: CLASH! Dawn of Steam - First Impressions<div style="text-align: justify;">
With International Tabletop Day having been just yesterday we had a great day of playing games, drinking tea, and just having general fun. As part of the day's hijinks we recorded another 'First Impressions' podcast for a recently received Kickstarter game: <i>CLASH! Dawn of Steam </i>from Mad Ape Games. We'll hopefully have a full review up and running within a few weeks, but in the meantime we hope you enjoy listening to our first impressions of the game quality, as well as our photos of some of the card which caught our attention for one reason or another!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tLS9Tfw_eW8" width="420"></iframe>Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-90188487858038020102015-04-11T11:42:00.000+01:002015-04-11T11:42:01.092+01:00Happy Tabletop Day!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Happy Tabletop Day, fellow gamers! That's right, it's that time of year again when people all around the world get together to celebrate their love of board games, card games, miniatures and roleplay, and we'll be no different. Now whilst you might expect a slew of content on such a prestigious day, the fact is this will be our only update. Why? Well because we're gamers too, and we'll be enjoying our hobby on Tabletop Day just as much as the rest of you! We do have quite the roster of playtesters at Games & Tea, but we're having a mini-reunion of the intrepid piratical trio from last September's trip to Amsterdam for the release of <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/pirates-card-game-kickstarter-review_12.html" target="_blank">Pirates! Card Game</a></i>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhzCGuCsrvypyAFBz8S6hchogM8zdDp65Q4whbK6wwlkG9Ike6N_1yUX6dIjvM1O-AmOQgIaMFmwtJEVUtvLTB-FwA5j4FMFmEvZK9EfjJykoMsdVnEtG4W_1OLUhftc_yDDWQRUhnVM/s1600/Pirates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhzCGuCsrvypyAFBz8S6hchogM8zdDp65Q4whbK6wwlkG9Ike6N_1yUX6dIjvM1O-AmOQgIaMFmwtJEVUtvLTB-FwA5j4FMFmEvZK9EfjJykoMsdVnEtG4W_1OLUhftc_yDDWQRUhnVM/s1600/Pirates.jpg" height="400" width="366" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">That said, we aren't going to let this massive gaming opportunity go to waste, so we just want to give you some idea of what's to come from us off the back of this...</span></div>
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<b><u>Unboxing</u></b></div>
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A couple of weeks ago we uploaded our first ever <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/03/podcast-404-law-not-found-first.html" target="_blank">"First Impressions" podcast</a>, opening up our newly arrived Kickstarter game <i>404: Law Not Found. </i>Well we have just received another Kickstarter game in <i>CLASH: Dawn of Steam</i>, so we'll be recording a First Impressions podcast of that today, which will be up for your listening pleasure soon. Being just a card game, the <i>CLASH</i> unboxing is going to be much shorter than <i>404</i>, but still we'll be taking a look at the quality of the materials, print quality, artwork and so on, and seeing if the physical game lives up to our donation.</div>
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<b><u>Reviews</u></b></div>
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As you've hopefully realised by now, we've got our review mojo well and truly back, with three new reviews uploaded within the last two weeks; <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/space-alert-part-2-gameplay-verdict.html" target="_blank">Space Alert</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/pirate-fluxx-ever-changing-pirate-card.html" target="_blank">Pirate Fluxx</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/love-letter-batman-edition-review.html" target="_blank">Love Letter: Batman Edition</a></i>. Well we'll be playing a whole host of unreviewed games throughout the day, with <i>Coup</i>, <i>Firefly: The Board Game</i>, <i>404: Law Not Found</i> and <i>Small World</i> all already being looked at as potentials, so off the back of Tabletop Day we'll inevitably be bringing you our thoughts on something new.</div>
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<b><u>Podcasting</u></b></div>
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We've been listening to YogsQuest on Youtube quite a lot recently, and if it's taught us one thing it's that some games can be almost as much to listen to as they are to play. Obviously this isn't going to be applicable to all games - <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/01/arkham-horror-call-of-cthulhu-board.html" target="_blank">Arkham Horror</a></i>, for example, would make quite a dreary 3 hour listen. Something along the lines of <i>Gloom</i>, on the other hand, might make for a nice bit of entertainment, so we're going to record ourselves playing a few games, and if we think they end up interesting enough then we might just release them to the general population.</div>
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<b><u>Tea</u></b></div>
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We'll be drinking tea today - we are Games & Tea, after all. This won't have any effect on our upcoming content, but we thought this still deserved a mention.</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-19751565995097130382015-04-09T23:22:00.001+01:002015-04-09T23:39:52.158+01:00Love Letter: Batman Edition Review<div style="text-align: justify;">
Good day to you, ladies and gentlegamers! As we've mentioned in the past, we thoroughly enjoy every review we bring to our readers, but we get an extra bit of joy from reviewing a new release - purely because of the fact that it allows us to feel as though we're on the ball for once! So, brace yourselves for probably the shortest gameplay walkthrough we've ever brought you, as we take a look at <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> by Seiji Kanai, from Alderac Enterainment.</div>
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<i>Love Letter</i> itself is a very popular and well-established casual card game, and has been a staple of many gamers' collections for quite some time. Even with comic book heroes very much ascendant in recent years, this is probably one of the most surprising games to receive a superhero paint job!</div>
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To date we haven't actually played the original <i>Love Letter</i> so will be unable to draw direct comparisons, but we're chalking this up as an advantage as it leaves us able to dissect the <i>Batman Edition</i> on its own merits, and give it an unbiased score.</div>
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<i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is a competitive card game for 2-4 players, in which each player takes on the role of the Dark Knight, and has to outshine the other Batmonei (we established this as the plural of "Batman" on a Hobbynomicon podcast!) in recapturing the escaped inmates of Arkham Asylum.</div>
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At the beginning of the review we mentioned that this would probably be our shortest gameplay explanation to date, and this is entirely down to the fact that <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is a mind-bogglingly simple game to play - to such an extent that we were left wondering why we never picked up a copy of the original version. Before you click away though, we like to think our <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/10/cards-against-humanity-party-game-for.html" target="_blank">Cards Against Humanity</a></i> review proved that simple mechanics do not a bad game make, and similarly our <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/01/arkham-horror-call-of-cthulhu-board.html" target="_blank">Arkham Horror</a></i> review went to show that complex mechanics don't necessarily pave the road to a good gaming experience. So stick with us as we go through <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> and see how it plays out...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6-yZPmETL_4etJSDO7LqqI30yAtiFypYIMGmKn_zaR-Lg5XAVQNnL0cHKYsAoyHF0WssptGNd1b15AktM2WV6GCqt-a7zW9l0kz-nuQ8r4owrOx68Qt9IwOLm6Pwbqc-gQnRyNYpIS8/s1600/DSCF6579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6-yZPmETL_4etJSDO7LqqI30yAtiFypYIMGmKn_zaR-Lg5XAVQNnL0cHKYsAoyHF0WssptGNd1b15AktM2WV6GCqt-a7zW9l0kz-nuQ8r4owrOx68Qt9IwOLm6Pwbqc-gQnRyNYpIS8/s1600/DSCF6579.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Contents-wise, <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is a very light game. There are 16 Game Cards, each printed with lavish artwork depicting either Batman, Robin, or one of the many major supervillains from the Batman universe (for those DC fans interested, with the exception of The Joker they're all New 52-based). Each of these cards contains a nice, plain-English explanation of how that card functions, which we'll go through shortly, and a number in the top-left corner which dictates the card's value (the higher, the better).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECqELgdYEi7-BYFy92GDvHIso-UQjL5vuq65jwYaHMYc4sSxSw0rSUS-P89xf5C1xXLQBxeq3ka84rImlCzn2qKpBDcs741Qe6DquJvwiUEr65-KzmvJWEJ3U3GkVJOoY2EnjIR7uXVY/s1600/DSCF6575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhECqELgdYEi7-BYFy92GDvHIso-UQjL5vuq65jwYaHMYc4sSxSw0rSUS-P89xf5C1xXLQBxeq3ka84rImlCzn2qKpBDcs741Qe6DquJvwiUEr65-KzmvJWEJ3U3GkVJOoY2EnjIR7uXVY/s1600/DSCF6575.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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As an extra little assist for players, there are also four card lists included in the box, explaining the value of each character, the card's abilities, as well as a reminder of how many of each card are in the deck (there may be five Batmonei, but there is only one Mr J!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ5SjNZzyaQ4JJ6D1iKVuOHH-h4U6ycxkrC5O6piRvviUQkR0Y2ztaj6zfdr3H3H-eFZIB840sTKGE4sUmRZKJi-TRvUFK0klNAAAywDwz9xl2yVAjbaDd3V1g-iTkhBvhwA3kQU17U5U/s1600/Batmonei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ5SjNZzyaQ4JJ6D1iKVuOHH-h4U6ycxkrC5O6piRvviUQkR0Y2ztaj6zfdr3H3H-eFZIB840sTKGE4sUmRZKJi-TRvUFK0klNAAAywDwz9xl2yVAjbaDd3V1g-iTkhBvhwA3kQU17U5U/s1600/Batmonei.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm Batman!" "No, I'm Batman!" "I'm Batman, and so's my wife!"</td></tr>
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<br />This just leaves a bag of small wooden Batman tokens, which are used to keep track of the scores across each round, and the rulebook.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikeJFn_LJDeh0LOn67QiC-v7xoR0RkYJpRTG6OnBjKzlJYemIbDtGKHFoZiwbZS8pJk5tSU4XO91f0zNtQMD3yKug6shL3kEjAeTetYop2GVwPqby9I7MoXISCLgygWLS68f6zhF8qArg/s1600/DSCF6577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikeJFn_LJDeh0LOn67QiC-v7xoR0RkYJpRTG6OnBjKzlJYemIbDtGKHFoZiwbZS8pJk5tSU4XO91f0zNtQMD3yKug6shL3kEjAeTetYop2GVwPqby9I7MoXISCLgygWLS68f6zhF8qArg/s1600/DSCF6577.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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And that's it! Not a great deal to look at (although certainly very pretty), but let's put them all together and see what happens...</div>
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The aim of <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is to gain 7 Batman tokens before any of the other players, through rounding up the highest-valued Arkham escapees.</div>
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To start the game the Game Cards are shuffled and then one card is randomly discarded face-down, not to be used throughout the rest of the game. <i>Lover Letter: Batman Edition</i> is a game of bluffing and deduction, so having one unknown card missing from the deck adds an extra challenge to the latter.</div>
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Each player draws a single card to create their starting hand, and then the round begins. During each players (very quick) turn, they draw one card off the top of the deck, and then have to discard one from their hand, Some of the cards have positive effects, some have negative effects, either of which can be used to try and misdirect the other players about the remaining card. Some can be used to eliminate other players from the round, whilst some eliminate the player who discarded it, and one way to win the Batman token for the round is to be the last Batman standing.</div>
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If the deck is depleted then the round finishes, and the player with the highest value card in their hand wins the Batman token, or - in the event of a tie - the player with the highest value of discarded cards wins.</div>
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Confused? That's fair, it's a far simpler game in practice than on paper!</div>
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For example...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6-yZPmETL_4etJSDO7LqqI30yAtiFypYIMGmKn_zaR-Lg5XAVQNnL0cHKYsAoyHF0WssptGNd1b15AktM2WV6GCqt-a7zW9l0kz-nuQ8r4owrOx68Qt9IwOLm6Pwbqc-gQnRyNYpIS8/s1600/DSCF6579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha6-yZPmETL_4etJSDO7LqqI30yAtiFypYIMGmKn_zaR-Lg5XAVQNnL0cHKYsAoyHF0WssptGNd1b15AktM2WV6GCqt-a7zW9l0kz-nuQ8r4owrOx68Qt9IwOLm6Pwbqc-gQnRyNYpIS8/s1600/DSCF6579.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Going back to Batman himself from the earlier photo, his discard ability allows a player to guess at the card in another player's hand. At the beginning of the game this could be an outright guess, but as more cards are discarded deduction can start to creep in. Of course players do have to rely on complete honesty from one-another, but frankly anyone who can't be trusted through a casual game has no place in any gaming group, in our opinion! Batman is the lowest value card in the deck, so keeping him in hand serves very little purpose in the long-run, so he will usually get discarded/activated a lot.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMoeLD1SO_ytQS9ol6XIuG1soHOo1PqYlOuySbWoqUkvbf4ach9RwCjw2fXdO4n82xEt3TexaQWkZl4-MR0XwnlZxqacERidibKcFULxwtTYnipC8eQP7A-4e7f2J-EwJdbTC0hr3hic/s1600/DSCF6580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsMoeLD1SO_ytQS9ol6XIuG1soHOo1PqYlOuySbWoqUkvbf4ach9RwCjw2fXdO4n82xEt3TexaQWkZl4-MR0XwnlZxqacERidibKcFULxwtTYnipC8eQP7A-4e7f2J-EwJdbTC0hr3hic/s1600/DSCF6580.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Harley Quinn is a high-value escapee, with a value of 7 (second highest only to her puddin' - The Joker - himself), so keeping her in hand is usually going to be a good play. However, her ability forces her to be discarded if Two-Face or Poison Ivy are drawn. In the example above the player has just drawn Bane, who allows players to basically play a quick game of Top Trumps! Now whilst the obvious play would be to discard Bane and hope Harley's 7 is enough to knock out an opponent, a sneakier play might be to discard Harley, leading the other players to believe either Two-Face or Ivy is in your hand. Throwing the other players off the scent for a turn like this can be a devastating move, especially with such high card turnover and fast deck-depletion.</div>
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Each character in <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> serves a different purpose, and learning how and when to use them most effectively is the key to victory... that, and a good poker face. Catwoman, for example, allows a player to look at an opponent's hand. Two-Face allows a player to trade hands with an opponent altogether. Robin allows a player to ignore the effects of other cards for a full turn. And The Joker (a personal favourite) puts the player who discarded him out of the round - you are playing as Batman, after all, so allowing Gotham's most notorious criminal to slip through your grasp is grounds for immediate dismissal.</div>
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As mentioned above (although now with a bit of context!) being the only non-eliminated player wins a Batman point, or after the deck is depleted, having the highest-value inmate in your clutches snags you that little wooden bat-symbol. At the end of each round the deck is shuffled and the process is repeated until one player has 7 of those coveted points.</div>
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So that's <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i>. With a learning time of roughly 90 seconds (no kidding, that's actually how long it took us to get a game going!) it's one of the quickest and easiest games to pick up on the market, but with some light-hearted theatricality and deception, it's still incredibly fun to play.</div>
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The physical components of the game are manufactured to a high standard, and the artwork - as mentioned earlier - is very nice to look at. Being a quick game to play, it makes an excellent warm-up, wind-down, or intermission game to any games night, and the turns rotate so quickly that it feels more like a party game, as you always seem to be taking an action of some sort. It's simplicity and short play-time make it an excellent game for younger gamers with shorter attention spans as well, so if you have a young Bat-fan in the family and you want to draw them into your gaming hobby, this might be a good place to start!</div>
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Criticisms of the game come very few and far between, however we've always prided ourselves on our impartiality, and so will work to find any negative points we can. First of all it's not so great with just 2 players. Even with the mystery card removed at the beginning of the game, the deductive side of <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> falls a little short when you only have one opponent to outfox. The only other criticism (and ye gods we're having to scrape the nitpicking barrel here!) is that there will inevitably be people getting upset over the choice of villains in the deck. With a limited-sized deck and so many Arkham alumni to choose from, some people will end up having their favourites missed out. (On a personal note, the inclusion of The Joker, Harley Quinn and Catwoman was enough to keep me happy, anyone else is purely a bonus!)</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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Quick to play.</div>
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Even quicker to learn!</div>
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An excellent entry-level game for younger gamers, or those new to the specialist game scene.</div>
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Nicely tactical, in spite of the simple mechanics.</div>
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Very well presented, with nice artwork throughout.</div>
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"I'M BATMAN!"</div>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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Limited appeal with only 2 players.</div>
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No Riddler or Penguin, to name but two, so Nigma and Cobblepot fans will be disappointed.</div>
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Very difficult to resist the urge to growl "I'M BATMAN!" with the Batman card in hand. Anyone? Oh, maybe that's just me then.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 3-4</u></strong></div>
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As mentioned<i>, Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> struggles a little with 2 players, but it comes to life with 3 and excels with 4.</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 20 minutes</u></strong></div>
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Each round of <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> only lasts a couple of minutes, but with a target of 7 Batman points a full 4 player game has the potential to cap at 25 rounds! However, this is unlikely to happen, and 20 minutes is a good average game time, which can even be shortened if needed by reducing the number of required points.</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: High</u></strong></div>
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With its short play-time, this is a good game for filling gaps, whether a lunch break, or a pause between bigger games on a game night. As a result, it's likely to be a game which is played little and often, and so will be very easy to keep coming back to.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Darkest just before the dawn...</u></strong></div>
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Okay we have to admit that comment wasn't really relevant, but we just thought it'd look really good there! <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is a standalone game, so really doesn't have anywhere further to go.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £14</u></strong></div>
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The RRP on <i>Love Letter: Batman Edition</i> is £14, and there are two versions available. We've shown you the boxed version (as we like having pretty boxed games filling our shelves), but there is also a bagged version, which doesn't come with the box, but includes a Batman-embroidered canvas bag for ease of transportation. Both retail for the same price, and with both <i>Love Letter</i> and Batman being very popular, we imagine it will be readily available on the shelves of most gaming stores before long!</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"></span></strong> <strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Typhoo, milk and 2 sweeteners. Brew Rating: 7.5/10</span></strong></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-70941733020211795282015-04-04T20:47:00.000+01:002015-04-04T20:47:17.850+01:00Pirate Fluxx: The Ever-Changing Pirate Card Game<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you ask any gamer to reel off a handful of quick, casual games, there's a very good chance that <i>Fluxx</i> will be on the list. Love it or loathe it, <i>Fluxx</i> has become one of the staples of the gaming world since the release of the original version of the game way back in 1997, and has spawned a number of themed sets (14, at the latest count!).</div>
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In this article we'll be swashing our buckles, hoisting the colours, and dunking the ship's biscuits, as we take a look at <i>Pirate Fluxx </i>from Looney Labs.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XivhrVohvufsNw17v1rn4CqhGYxF5lSSsbCekECp9T1K72BM-FFovcvBekd3B9X48rsJCu3uttRnQwpp_25RQcrJqVpxDdRErprIcdQiYwllZCuMKofH5Mppd7BpvFpnlT7DbCYQBBs/s1600/DSCF6547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_XivhrVohvufsNw17v1rn4CqhGYxF5lSSsbCekECp9T1K72BM-FFovcvBekd3B9X48rsJCu3uttRnQwpp_25RQcrJqVpxDdRErprIcdQiYwllZCuMKofH5Mppd7BpvFpnlT7DbCYQBBs/s1600/DSCF6547.JPG" height="400" width="301" /></a></div>
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As with all <i>Fluxx</i> games, <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> is a casual, competitive card game for 2-6 players. In the same way as we did with our reviews of <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/08/zombie-fluxx-ever-changing-zombie-card.html" target="_blank">Zombie Fluxx</a> </i>and <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/11/star-fluxx-ever-changing-card-game-in.html" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">Star Fluxx</a>, we won't be going into the basic <i>Fluxx</i> ruleset here, as it's identical in every version of the game. If you haven't played any version of <i>Fluxx</i> before then we'd highly recommend starting by reading our <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/07/monty-python-fluxx-ever-changing-monty.html" target="_blank">Monty Python Fluxx</a></i> review, as we detailed the full rules here.<br />
Instead, we'll be looking at some of the additions to this version of the game, and how well the pirate theme is brought to life.<br />
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If you've played <i>Star Fluxx</i> or read our review (and if you haven't, then why not? Seriously, we gave you a link just above, you have no excuse!) then you'll know that version of <i>Fluxx</i> tipped it's hat to a lot of franchises, from <i>Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy</i>, to <i>Star Wars</i> via <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>. We might as well start by pointing out that <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> is not franchise-based, so you'll find no Jack Sparrow, no Dread Pirate Roberts, and no Guybrush Threepwood here. In fact it's not even historically-based, so don't expect to see Blackbeard or Calico Jack showing their faces either.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqllWZfb07_pBt_wJUct-Y5wj3k0m0Htw7siCLmmT5EbiN_Vov8f9cVun_fFHfgvHkE2OegkGNg_afulXP4i0p_vE57QtAV6pMcboDouH8BQi_FAH7F-_SzRalMHywxWbhhYm9hzY2Q4/s1600/mi-wood1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxqllWZfb07_pBt_wJUct-Y5wj3k0m0Htw7siCLmmT5EbiN_Vov8f9cVun_fFHfgvHkE2OegkGNg_afulXP4i0p_vE57QtAV6pMcboDouH8BQi_FAH7F-_SzRalMHywxWbhhYm9hzY2Q4/s1600/mi-wood1.jpg" height="210" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry, Guybrush, you and your woodchuck have no place here.</td></tr>
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It's not all doom and gloom though. Even without some of popular cultures greatest piratical personalities, <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> still takes players across the seven seas, with ships, rum, gunpowder, treasure and citrus fruits!<br />
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As with all themed <i>Fluxx</i> decks, the chosen theme comes through strongest with the Keepers (and, subsequently, the Goals). Whilst there are pirate-specific New Rules and Actions, the majority of these two card types are still the same as the other <i>Fluxx</i> decks, but the Keepers are all piratical. Amongst the Keepers in <i>Pirate Fluxx</i>, players will find a wide selection of 'booty' cards, such as doubloons, emeralds and pearls, and a range of fine sea-faring vessels, from mighty frigates to humble dinghies. They'll find rum, they'll find parrots and monkeys, the king's colours and pirate flags... basically if it's a part of pirate lore, it's probably represented in the Keepers somewhere (except for the governor's daughter, but <i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/pirates-card-game-kickstarter-review_12.html" target="_blank">Pirates! Card Game</a></i> called dibs on her already).<br />
As with <i>Star</i>, <i>Zombie</i> and - to a lesser extent - <i>Monty Python</i>, some of the Keepers in <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> have special rules, and the way Looney Labs have written these really does make the pirate theme stand out nicely. For example, there is a New Rule card called <i>Plunder</i>, which allows players to steal a Keeper from an opponent once during their turn. However, if a player has the <i>Cutlass </i>Keeper then they're (almost) safe from plundering. They can still be plundered from if the plundering player has the <i>Flintlock Pistol</i>, as flintlock>cutlass. To trump everything, however, if a player has the <i>Captain's Hat</i> then they can plunder from anyone, and similarly cannot be plundered by anyone (it's important to respect the chain of command). This makes the <i>Captain's Hat</i> a highly valued commodity in <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> (in no small part due to the fact that the other players are required in the rules to refer to its owner as 'Captain'), and we've been involved in games which have gone on for far longer than they should have, with the Goal being completely forgotten about in favour of fighting over the coveted hat! One of the most heart-breaking moments as the reigning captain is seeing the malicious look of joy in an opponent's face as they play the <i>Mutiny!</i> card.<br />
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Other piratical cards are interspersed throughout the deck. Whilst <i>Fluxx</i> staples such as <i>Draw 3, Play 2</i> and <i>Steal a Keeper</i> are still part and parcel of the game, cards like <i>Mutiny!</i> and <i>Walk the Plank!</i> continue to keep the pirate theme running. But our favourite card in <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> (possibly second favourite - that <i>Captain's Hat</i> is pretty darn cool), and the one which most heavily brings a pirate atmosphere to the gaming table is a New Rule...<br />
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In a similar fashion to <i>Monty Python Fluxx</i>'s <i>Outragous Accent </i>New Rule, <i>Talk Like a Pirate </i>rewards players for, well, talking like a pirate! Whether slurring their way through their best Jack Sparrow impression, or "Y'arr!"-ing their way through a turn, players get to draw additional cards for putting on a pirate voice, and for keeping it going uninterrupted. In our very first game of <i>Pirate Fluxx</i>, one player's phone rang and - unwilling to lose the +1 bonus for maintaining their pirate voice - they answered the phone in pirate character and confused the hell out of the sales caller on the other end of the line.<br />
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As with most variations on the game, <i>Pirate Fluxx</i> is not without its Creepers; cards which prevent players from winning the game. However, it's very Creeper-light, with the two above being the only ones in the deck. Not only that, but they're actually incredibly easy to get rid of compared to most <i>Fluxx </i>Creepers, with Scurvy being removed by the mere presence of citrus fruit Keepers, and Shackles having the option of being bought off with a booty Keeper. Not only does this quicken the pace of the game, but it also makes it a lot more accessible to the younger gamers in the family, who may otherwise get frustrated with the unshakable Creepers in other <i>Fluxx</i> games.<br />
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So that's <i>Pirate Fluxx</i>! We've always been very open about the fact that we fall into the pro-<i>Fluxx</i> camp, and <i>Pirate</i> certainly doesn't fail to disappoint. The light-hearted nature of the classic game still shines through the piratical paint-job, but at the same time the pirate theme isn't lost - this still feels like a piratey game, as opposed to just a game with some pirate words on the cards.<br />
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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Each card tells the player exactly what they have to do with it, and so it's a very fast game to pick up.</div>
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It's a nice compact game, and can easily be taken to a park or pub to play with friends. Nothing is needed except for the cards in the deck.</div>
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<i>Pirate Fluxx</i> manages to keep both the feel of <i>Fluxx</i> and the feel of a pirate game, so you'll get precisely the game you hope for out of this.</div>
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The low number of Creepers and the ease of discarding them makes this a good version of <i>Fluxx</i> for younger players as well as adults.</div>
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With the right number of players it's quite a quick game to play, and is good to wrap up a heavy gaming session.</div>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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As with other <em>Fluxxes, Pirate Fluxx</em> is largely a game of chance<em>,</em> and this luck-based system will not appeal to all.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 3</u></strong></div>
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<em>Fluxx </em>decks are always good wind-up or wind-down games on any gaming nights. <em>Pirate Fluxx </em>loses a little of the fun with just 2 players, but with 4 or more (the box advertises 2-6) it can start to drag on as players forget their own Goals and desperately vie to just keep eachother from winning.</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 20 minutes</u></strong></div>
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<em>Pirate Fluxx</em> is difficult to put an average game time on due to its random and unpredictable nature. We've played games which have been over in a matter of minutes, and some which have gone on for over an hour. 20 minutes is a good, solid, average time though.</div>
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...unless everyone is squabbling over the <i>Captain's Hat</i>, then you should steel yourselves for a 3 hour epic!</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: High</u></strong></div>
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<em>Pirate Fluxx</em> is an excellent wind-down game, and with it being an enjoyable yet generic theme, it's a lot of fun to keep returning to.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: n/a</u></strong></div>
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Each version of <em>Fluxx</em> is its own game, and as such the contents of the box are all you'll ever get of <em>Pirate Fluxx.</em> However if you've enjoyed the mechanic then there are several other themed <em>Fluxx</em> sets to choose from, including <em>Zombie Fluxx, Oz Fluzz, Martian Fluxx, Cthulhu Fluxx</em> and <em>Stoner Fluxx</em>.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £12</u></strong></div>
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<em>Pirate Fluxx</em> will set you back roughly £12, which is a thoroughly decent price for a stand-alone card game. The various <em>Fluxx</em> sets seem to be standard fare in most specialist game shops, so even if they don't have the set you're after then they should be able to get their hands on it quickly.</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"></span></strong> <strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Tetley Redbush, 2 sweeteners and a dash of lemon. Brew Rating: 8/10</span></strong></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-47408828316994133242015-04-03T00:08:00.000+01:002015-04-03T00:08:12.965+01:00Space Alert, Part 2: Gameplay & Verdict<div style="text-align: justify;">
In our <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2015/04/space-alert-part-1-box-contents.html" target="_blank">last article</a> we took our first step back into the world of regular reviewing, by taking a look at the box contents for Vlaada Chvatil's <i>Space Alert</i>, published by Rio Grande Games. <i>Space Alert</i> is a co-operative game for 1-5 players (side note: we'd love to know how a competitive game for 1 player would work... answers on a postcard), in which the players take on the roles of expendable crew members on a short-range interstellar vessel. Here we'll be taking a look at how the game plays, and giving it our coveted* final score (*Games & Tea final score may not actually be coveted).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0kyNEmsnlnTyg47JepjGQeOlhel-PkMYaKLYht12ckKf66HDtSg63URJ3LDIOk7NNNaBBPUsODpNhqZxF-tRo-PEDpqjG8eEzd2PKlL_INqTaDCSrpsQ17JkTWgeUiQk3Fpsra33ozA/s1600/DSCF6525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0kyNEmsnlnTyg47JepjGQeOlhel-PkMYaKLYht12ckKf66HDtSg63URJ3LDIOk7NNNaBBPUsODpNhqZxF-tRo-PEDpqjG8eEzd2PKlL_INqTaDCSrpsQ17JkTWgeUiQk3Fpsra33ozA/s1600/DSCF6525.JPG" height="287" width="400" /></a></div>
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Before the game can begin, players must first of all squabble amongst themselves over their roles in the crew. As mentioned in the box contents article, the pace of the action is dictated by the ship's computer - relayed either via the accompanying CD or the smartphone app. This means that one crew member must be designated as the communications officer. Whilst all hell is breaking loose on board the ship, robots are malfunctioning, and aliens are attacking, it's the duty of the communications officer to closely listen to the ship's computer and ensure that no updates are missed. Obviously all crew members can hear these updates, but the comms officer is the expendable man or woman responsible for none of them slipping through.</div>
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The other role to be assigned is that of the ship's captain. <i>Space Alert</i> is a co-operative game, but it's also a real-time one, which means that there is rarely enough time to sit around and discuss various options to a newly revealed threat. The ship's captain serves two purposes: firstly, to have the final say on any conflicting courses of action from the other crew members, and the other we'll come to shortly.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zFifvjyNUvVOLd-vUnlU033EjDoy_xEdRZw68TXTigolA6Kv5Z8C0hKRaeQfVpfmmVTbwgXnGeHptOkTrE0kbiQ9ahtvaErFCTr1L4vtR3CEH4e5g_gA6e9dKc2JP7_sqDi-BQx0dNE/s1600/KifAndZapp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9zFifvjyNUvVOLd-vUnlU033EjDoy_xEdRZw68TXTigolA6Kv5Z8C0hKRaeQfVpfmmVTbwgXnGeHptOkTrE0kbiQ9ahtvaErFCTr1L4vtR3CEH4e5g_gA6e9dKc2JP7_sqDi-BQx0dNE/s1600/KifAndZapp.jpg" height="303" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Captain's log, stardate Tuesday... point two."</td></tr>
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Once the crew roles are have handed out, it's time to set up the board.</div>
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As the first part of this review showed, there are a fair few components to<i> Space Alert</i>. In spite of this, however, the setup process of the game is actually very quick and straightforward. Threat Vectors are randomly drawn and assigned to the four sections of the ship previously mentioned (left, right, center, and internal), the jelly cubes representing the power to the ship's systems are assigned to their starting points, the threat decks are shuffled (internal and external still kept separate), the combat robots sent to their charging stations, and the crew members placed on the bridge. If all has been done properly, you'll be left staring at something like this...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_hR-7b7oqf4hBLV6BtqO2W9MO6nK4zabU1nhrf5XVnLAmEef32tgLu6g-H8a_vfjvFIeIAgocU5gDSpZ_bnE5xaxiyWpgoliBt1I6sfst_GTlNeZqQd4oqRQBKmLkkBxS0gqlbEJBWA/s1600/DSCF6541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_hR-7b7oqf4hBLV6BtqO2W9MO6nK4zabU1nhrf5XVnLAmEef32tgLu6g-H8a_vfjvFIeIAgocU5gDSpZ_bnE5xaxiyWpgoliBt1I6sfst_GTlNeZqQd4oqRQBKmLkkBxS0gqlbEJBWA/s1600/DSCF6541.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Then it's time to hand out the Action Cards and start the game! You may have noticed in Part 1 of the review that the Action Boards are split into three sections, containing the numbers 1-3, 4-7, and then 8-12 respectively...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspBx6KW1ksoZwqA1jqUDHvuJPaxbts73hN6ZP5kaBEnoJNejcvahD8As9EJIOtYZgREATe5ufzNULUEaIIOFswh-EAo0TZMAHETI-VDyof4Eu-Rgq1pr_qL4ubsI9MXADE5VJosTwRyA/s1600/DSCF6532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhspBx6KW1ksoZwqA1jqUDHvuJPaxbts73hN6ZP5kaBEnoJNejcvahD8As9EJIOtYZgREATe5ufzNULUEaIIOFswh-EAo0TZMAHETI-VDyof4Eu-Rgq1pr_qL4ubsI9MXADE5VJosTwRyA/s1600/DSCF6532.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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These are the three mission sections, and the individual numbers represent the turns of the game (we know, we said this was a real-time game, but all will make sense as you read on!). Before the game starts, each player is dealt 5 Action Cards for each section of the board, which are placed on those sections face-down. The computer will call out the beginning and end of each mission section - during the active section, each player may assign Action Cards to any turns they wish, and rearrange them as many times as necessary to adapt to changing circumstances. Once the mission section is over, however, and the next section begins, those Action Cards are then locked in place and cannot be changed.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZX9U7hFDeFxqoxMqkHgG7GTzr5N1UJ6aO_IJKHJ1u92a3kTsa3s-HUN2QOViIaH7bKOG7Cdp8XVIZ2coE7N892HI-L5t5j3atomcfEREnXV8lsP7zAYbZzc3Kds5ca4dBEGN2v9yGZ7A/s1600/DSCF6542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZX9U7hFDeFxqoxMqkHgG7GTzr5N1UJ6aO_IJKHJ1u92a3kTsa3s-HUN2QOViIaH7bKOG7Cdp8XVIZ2coE7N892HI-L5t5j3atomcfEREnXV8lsP7zAYbZzc3Kds5ca4dBEGN2v9yGZ7A/s1600/DSCF6542.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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Each room of the ship has contains three different buttons; A, B and C (easy to remember!). Button A fires the weapons system in whichever room the player is standing at the time, button B is used for raising the shields or charging the reactor, depending on location, and button C is a bit more specialist, being used to fire missiles, maintain the computer, launch fighters, activate robots, or just look out the window (no, we're not even joking about that final one!). Each Action Card includes a movement arrow and one of those three actions, so players can choose to use them to either move around the ship or activate one of the ship's systems.</div>
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The trick in <i>Space Alert</i> is to make sure that the crew are accounting for all of the ship's systems. Firing the lasers and charging the shields both draw energy from the ship's reactor, and that reactor must be periodically refilled.</div>
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Now pay attention, crew, for this is where the second role of the captain comes into effect!</div>
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Actions are resolved in order, starting from the captain and working clockwise around the board, so it's important for players to keep this in mind when planning their moves. It's great to charge the reactor in preparation for a full-on laser bombardment, but if the person charging the reactor is taking their turn after those firing the weapons, then all you'll be left with is a crew member hammering on an innefective 'fire' button whilst a colossal alien warship descends upon you!</div>
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Let's have a look at an example below...</div>
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In this scenario, the blue player has locked their choices in for the first two mission sections, but the third has not yet begun. When deciding whether to move or activate a system, the top half of the Action Card is the one to go by. In this run here the player fired the ship's lasers (A), moved to the room on the left, charged the shields (B), took the elevator down, refilled the reactor (B), went back up in the elevator, and then fired the lasers (A).</div>
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Obviously players may not always have the cards in their hands for the actions they'd like to take, and this is where it becomes important to organise amongst eachother. It's not all doom and gloom though, as the computer will occasionally call out "incoming data" or "data transfer", which allow players to draw new cards or exchange between eachother respectively.</div>
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The most important thing which the computer will call out are threats. Only one threat can appear during each turn, so if the computer calls out "Time T-1, threat blue", it means that a threat will start approaching in turn 1 on the right hand section of the ship (the blue section)...</div>
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Here a sneaky Stealth Fighter has just appeared. It begins at the top of the Threat Vector and advances each turn. Every time it passes a letter on the Vector, it carries out the action marked on the card - for example, the Stealth Fighter cannot be attacked until it hits the X. Once it hits the Y it deals 2 damage to the ship, and then another 2 when it hits Z, so it's in the best interests of the crew to blow it out of the stars before that can happen.</div>
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The mission continues for 12 minutes, as the crew tries to keep everything in working order and the ship in one piece, up until the computer mercifully calls out "hyperspace jump in 3, 2, 1... *whoosh*", and you all live to fight another day.</div>
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...or do you?</div>
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At the end of the box contents article there was a board we skipped over, so this comes into effect now. It turns out that during the 12 minutes of real-time action the players are basically just planning out which actions they're going to take in each of the 12 turns. This card is effectively the black box recording for the crew's (probably) ill-fated mission, and only once the CD/app track has finished do the players finally play through the actions and see how everything actually panned out.</div>
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This part of the game can prove absolutely hilarious, and it's fun for the players to now imagine themselves as a board of directors, face-palming their way through a 12-minute recording of the most inept crew in existence.</div>
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Indeed, in one of the USS Games & Tea's first outings, our illustrious communications officer was convinced he'd saved the day against that pesky Stealth Fighter. In reality, he hadn't realised the targeting restriction on it, spent two turns firing the laser at empty space until the reactor was empty, and then watched in absent-minded glory as the Stealth Fighter proceeded to tear the ship to pieces. We can only imagine the letter which must have been handed over to his next of kin. </div>
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Now it might seem fairly straightforward from this description, but it's the little things which make <i>Space Alert</i> special. For example, as the "How to..." manual states, there is no video link between the rooms on the ship, only audio, so players must place their Action Cards face-down on the Action Boards. This means that all players MUST communicate with eachother, as they can't simply sneak a peek over at their shipmates' boards to see what they're up to. One of the problems with this is that there will occasionally be a communications malfunction replacing the CD track with static, during which period the crew must continue without speaking to eachother until it's resolved.</div>
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Other little touches can involve tripping over, being delayed in the elevators, running into bulkheads... if an incompetent crew of space-wannabes can do it, it's probably in <i>Space Alert</i> somewhere (one of our captains still tells heroic tales of the time he spent 3 turns staring out of the window as the ship disintegrated around him).</div>
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In terms of mechanics, there's not much more to tell really. We've skimmed over some of the finer points, but those are for you discover on your own! What did we think of it as a game though?</div>
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In a nutshell, this might be the finest co-operative game we've ever played. It's intensive for those 12 real-time minutes, but that's a short-enough time to be fun rather than stressful. Once the real-time section ends and the turn-based resolution begins, then it just becomes a very light hearted and humour-based game, and is terrific fun to have with friends.</div>
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One of the greatest things about <i>Space Alert</i> is that each player still very much feels like they're part of the game. A big problem with many co-op games (<i><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/06/pandemic-part-2-gameplay-verdict.html" target="_blank">Pandemic</a></i> being a perfect example), is that the turns often devolve into 'turns by committee'. Rather than each player taking their own actions, their turns end up being weighed up and discussed based on the actions of the preceeding and following players, and so individuality becomes lost entirely. The fact that <i>Space Alert</i> is a real-time game eliminates this entirely, as there is simply not time to weigh up every option. Players call out their planned actions, and have to work around eachother as they go, but their decisions and actions still feel very much their own, and this is an unbelievably rare thing in co-op games.</div>
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There are a lot of random elements to the game, especially with the addition of the smartphone app - the encounters are randomised, threats are randomised, Action Cards are randomised, damage to the shop is randomised... basically, there's enough to make sure that you'll never play the same game of <i>Space Alert</i> twice.</div>
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The short play time is also a massive bonus. It's difficult to get bored when you're playing a game which only takes around half an hour, and is keeping you on your toes for every minute! Whilst it's possible to customise the app with various difficulty settings, the default setting for <i>Space Alert</i> is incredibly challenging, and so it's very easy to fall into the "one more round" mentality, in an attempt to finally beat the game. It's worth noting that here at Games & Tea we've never managed to win a game on the default setting yet, but the fact we'll still shout the game's praises from the rooftops shows that we consider it an enjoyable challenge, rather than a frustrating one.</div>
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As we've mentioned in previous reviews though, no game is perfect. <i>Space Alert</i> comes pretty darn close, but we strongly doubt we'll ever see the unicorn that is the perfect game. We stated above that there are a lot of random elements, and one criticism of the game is that there are perhaps too many. The real-time section of the game is all about planning out your course of action, so when virtually every facet of the game is unpredictable, this can be a monumental challenge. The counter argument to this would be that it makes for a more authentic gaming experience, but this is perhaps one of those times were authenticity and playability should perhaps be weighed against eachother.</div>
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The next downside is the learning curve. The 'training program' is an inspired decision, and is a fool-proof way of teaching the complexities of <i>Space Alert</i> to new players. The problem with this is that every time another new player joins the group, the experienced players have to sit through the comparatively slow-paced training missions again until everyone's up to speed. In fact the first few weeks with the game at our FLGS seemed to be mired in training missions, as there was always someone new who wanted to try it out, taking us all back to square one.</div>
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The other negative point to <i>Space Alert</i> is that it doens't work quite as well with fewer players. It's impossible to play the game with fewer than four crew members, so if there are three players or less then the extra crew members are controlled by everyone, and each player received extra Action Cards in each section to make up for this. While this is probably the best way to resolve the issue of fewer players, it still doesn't work particularly well, and a single-player game of <i>Space Alert</i> is pretty much unplayable.</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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<li><i>Space Alert</i> is the first truly co-operative game we've played, as opposed to a 'turn by committee' game.</li>
<li>4 and 5 players are accommodated nicely, making it a good game for slightly larger groups.</li>
<li>The real-time element makes it a fun and frantic game, and the 'black box' resolution card brings the game to a very entertaining conclusion.</li>
<li>There are enough random elements to make every single playthrough different.</li>
<li>Excellent tutorial mode.</li>
<li>Extremely challenging.</li>
<li>The computer soundtrack makes the game very immersive.</li>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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<li>Perhaps too many random elements, leaving little room for planning.</li>
<li>The game fails to deliver with only 1 or 2 players.</li>
<li>Constantly repeating the training missions for new players can be frustrating.</li>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 4-5</u></strong></div>
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As mentioned above, <i>Space Alert</i> doesn't really work with 1 or 2 players. 3 should be considered the minimum for a decent game, but it plays best with 4 or 5, as this eliminates the need for a collectively-controlled extra crew member.<br />
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 30 minutues</u></strong></div>
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The playthrough time on <i>Space Alert</i> is pretty standard. The real-time section is always around 12 minutes (once the training missions have been passed), and the resolution stage usually takes a little longer, so a single sitting clocks in around the half-hour mark.<br />
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<strong><u>Replay Value: Very High</u></strong></div>
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With a relatively short play time, high number of randomly-generated elements, and challenging gameplay, <i>Space Alert</i> has all of the right ingredients for a highly replayable game. With expansions available to enhance the game further, this is one which we can't imagine gathering dust for a very long time.<br />
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<strong><u>The Future: Lost to the Depths of Space...</u></strong></div>
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<i>Space Alert </i>is a fantastic game, and the <i>The New Frontier</i> expansion adds even more to this, but as far as we can tell this is the extend of the <i>Space Alert</i> story.<br />
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<strong><u>Price: £40</u></strong></div>
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<i>Space Alert</i> will set you back £40, meaning it's not one of the cheapest games out there, but not one of the most expensive either. We'd certainly say that we've got our money's worth out of it. In terms of availability, we rarely see it on the shelves in gaming stores, but being from a large manufacturer it should be easy enough to order in.<br />
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Twinings English Afternoon, 3 minutes brew time, 2 sweeteners, dash of milk. Brew rating: 10/10</span></strong></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-13134952833621716922015-04-01T22:27:00.000+01:002015-04-03T00:07:53.472+01:00Space Alert, Part 1: Box Contents<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well at this point we certainly can't be accused of keeping on top of our game reviews! For many and varied reasons we've dropped off the face of the gaming earth for the last several months, but just because we haven't been reviewing doesn't mean we haven't been playing! Obviously the downside is that our readership numbers have dropped off, and we can't blame anyone for that, but on the plus side it now means we have a bunch of games which we have well and truly played to death, which we're ready to approach with a reviewers mindset now!</div>
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So to end our reviewing drought, we're going to be taking a look at <i>Space Alert</i> by Vlaada Chvatil, from Rio Grande Games.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrcuZg_fIxXULXyZ4uJPR7oWWfbI6giFJOCnM8jeTpbcXcyJNs4R2jP3mMG9pjRyAbIZzFTOW1NuwZ4sx9x051F6oLXi3qlcUmhEH3qqx4HVBsbHsIaF6ncifJZGZR8IMeOOCVz0-0_4/s1600/DSCF6525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSrcuZg_fIxXULXyZ4uJPR7oWWfbI6giFJOCnM8jeTpbcXcyJNs4R2jP3mMG9pjRyAbIZzFTOW1NuwZ4sx9x051F6oLXi3qlcUmhEH3qqx4HVBsbHsIaF6ncifJZGZR8IMeOOCVz0-0_4/s1600/DSCF6525.JPG" height="287" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Space Alert</i> is a co-operative board game for 1-5 players, set on a short-range interstellar exploration vessel which is apparently entirely crewed by people dressed like Cyclops from <i>X-Men</i>. The role of the ship is a simple one: execute a hyperspace jump to a nearby sector of space, spend 12 minutes scanning the area, and then hyperspace jump back to Earth to report the findings. The ship is pre-programmed to carry out its mission. The ship knows what it's doing. The ship is valuable.</div>
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The crew are not.</div>
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That's right, Nostromo-wannabes, you're expendable (not to be confused with <i>The Expendables</i>, although if you're the captain I suppose you can order everyone else to call you 'Stallone'). The job of the crew on this noble voyage is to make sure that the ship stays in one piece for long enough to make that return jump, although with giant space jellyfish, malfunctioning robots, saboteurs and nuclear warheads, that's not going to be an easy task!</div>
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But we'll be getting into the real gritty details of the gameplay in the second part of the review. For now, as always, we're going to be taking a look at the box contents so you know what to expect when you... well... examine the contents of the box.</div>
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Now just to be a bit different we're not going to start with the board, but with the rulebook. Or, more accurately, the rulebook<i>s</i>. As any self-respecting game should do, it comes with an in-depth (though, mercifully, not lengthy) rulebook with all of the gameplay mechanics clearly explained. It also includes a second rulebook, entitled "How to be a Space Explorer in Seven Lessons".</div>
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Seeing as <i>Space Alert</i> is quite a complex game, it has a fantastic method of teaching new players how to play. The "How to..." book is laid out and annotated like a training manual for space cadets, and slowly introduces players to the rules over a series of short training missions, by the end of which they'll have absorbed the full set of rules and are ready to play the game in full. In fact the "How to..." book encourages new players to put the full rulebook to one side and start with just the guide, and everyone at Games & Tea has found it to explain the game perfectly, and trained us all up into fully expendable space explorers in no time.</div>
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Next up: the board. The board in <i>Space Alert</i> gives an overview of the ship's layout, with the various ships systems, access doors/elevators, and so forth. We were unsure earlier about whether to class <i>Space Alert</i> as a board game, as typically a gaming board features some kind of goal or endgame. Here, the board is basically there just to keep a visual track on the chaos, as your crew desperately fights to keep the precious company property in spaceworthy condition.</div>
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We then come to the Threat Vectors. Whenever an obstacle appears to threaten the ship, from within or without, its progress is tracked on an appropriate Threat Vector. The threat vectors determine how quickly the threat reaches a catastrophic state, and how many times it deals slightly less catastrophic damage to the ship in the process. One is assigned to the left-hand (red) side of the ship, one to the center (white), one to the right (blue), and one to the ship's interior. There are seven of these in the game, but only a maximum of four are ever used, which allows for an element of randomisation.</div>
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If you're going to have Threat Vectors then you'd better damn well have some threats! There are two Threat Decks in <i>Space Alert</i>, which are shuffled to add further randomisation. The green deck consists of internal threats, so you'll find things like boarding parties, robot malfunctions, hacked shields and so on within this deck. The purple deck consists of external threats, so this is where you'll be faced with stealth fighters, juggernauts, meteors, and the previously-mentioned giant space jellyfish. The threats have various strengths and weaknesses, so it's up to the crew to work together to combat these before they tear the precious ship apart, and the bill for damages gets sent on to their next of kin.</div>
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So if you're going to combat these threats then I guess you're going to need to be able to move around the ship? And push buttons? And generally just do space-ship-type things? Throughout the mission, each player can take 12 actions - these are determined using the Action Cards, and are planned out using each player's Action Track.</div>
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Generally it's a good idea to physically represent the players on the board. <i>Space Alert</i> features 5 colourful crew tokens, which correspond to the colours of the Action Tracks. Those grey-looking fellows at the back are the ship's combat robots, and can be led around the ship to fight off invaders... at least until they malfunction and start killing the crew. Swings and roundabouts, eh?</div>
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No board game is complete without tokens, it seems, and <i>Space Alert</i> has them in spades. The various tokens are used to keep track of internal threats as they move throughout the ship, the progress of external threats, and the damage dealt to the ship itself - that's right, the ship takes damage! So if you don't work hard to keep it up and running, then that mega-laser you were counting on to save your skin at the last minute might not actually work so well.</div>
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And there are some assorted jelly cubes. Okay, we were a little disappointed to discover they weren't actually jelly cubes. These translucent plastic cubes and cylinders are used for various purposes in the game, but usually for keeping track of the ship's energy, which can be transferred between reactors, and assigned to weapons and shields.</div>
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We were thinking of leaving this out of Part 1 of the review, but seeing as this is a box contents article and this was in the box, we feel we should include it, but feel free to ignore it for now. This overly-complicated-looking track is effectively the ship's black box recording, and all will make sense in Part 2!</div>
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At this point you may be thinking "Okay, you're keeping the ship in-tact, things are attacking you, I get that... but how do you know when/where the threats come from?" This is one of our favourite parts of the game, and one that makes it quite immersive...</div>
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The CD! Now we've played games with CD soundtracks before (most notably <i>Last Night on Earth</i>), and the soundtrack has done little to enhance the gameplay - in fact, if anything, it's detracted from the experience. With <i>Space Alert</i>, however, things are different. This is not a CD of cheesy music, but the audio track of the ship's computer. Once you've selected a track and pressed play, the designated communications officer has to listen closely to know when and where the threats are approaching from, when players are allowed to exchange or draw new Action Cards, or can even cause a communications blackout, wherein players have to continue without communicating until the blackout resolves.</div>
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This makes <i>Space Alert </i>a real-time game, as opposed to turn-based, which adds to the chaos and tension of fending off attacks from all sides! The CD only contains around 10 tracks, not including the training mission, but a free Mission Generator app can be downloaded for smartphones, which randomly generates missions and is a highly recommended addition to the game.</div>
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Well, that's quite a lot of content, isn't it? Come back shortly to see how the gameplay breaks down and find out our final score on the game! Until then, drink up, and game on!</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-88932084256604071332015-03-29T16:47:00.001+01:002015-03-29T16:47:44.928+01:00Podcast: 404: Law Not Found - First Impressions<div style="text-align: justify;">
Hello, gamers! We've been out of the game (excuse the pun) for quite some time, but feel it's about time to get back into the swing of things, and to take a tentative first step into the world of podcasting while we're at it! On top of our usual review format of "Part 1: Box Contents" and "Part 2: Gameplay & Verdict", we're having a go at a "First Impressions" unboxing recording, seeing as those first impressions can count for a lot, and are often lost by the time the full review has been written up.</div>
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So, with that in mind, our first podcast is available below, in which we'll be taking a look at <i>404: Law Not Found</i>; a recently published Kickstarter project from 3DTotal Games! We hope you enjoy!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-H01PGyiF4" width="420"></iframe>Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-21719337858840101562014-08-16T10:41:00.001+01:002014-08-16T10:41:46.014+01:00We're still at least 17% alive!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well we can't really deny that Games & Tea has been quiet of late, so we figured an update was about due - this post is part apology, part explanation.</div>
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A few months ago you may remember we posted a review of <em><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/pirates-card-game-kickstarter-review_12.html" target="_blank">Pirates! Card Game</a></em>, a Kickstarter project by Jules Prick. It was our utmost pleasure to see the project reach its funding goal, and knock through its stretch goals on the sprint to the finish line! We've mentioned in the past how when you ramp up your Kickstarter pledge you start to get jucier rewards, and one of the rewards for <em>Pirates!</em> was a pirate sloop tour around the canals of Amsterdam - the birthplace of the game. Always eager for a chance to dress as pirates and terrorise a European capital city, we jumped on board (see what we did there?), and as things spiralled out of control it's ended up basically becoming a Games & Tea holiday! Unfortunately, holidays are expensive things, and as a result a large portion of the last few months has been dedicated to scraping together enough pennies to actually see this thing through (an £80 pledge has now turned into a £700 city break!).</div>
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However, the funds are now raised, costumes bought, flights and accommodation booked, and some semblance of normality is starting to be restored! We're jetting off towards the end of September, so when we get back you can expect an in-depth report on our experience of a Kickstarter launch event, and tales of any other game-related shenanigans we manage to get up to while we're there!</div>
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We're also hoping to get back to a decent reviewing rate fairly soon - one of the downsides to spending so much time raising holiday funds is that we've been unable to get together for fun game times. We're very eager to get reviews of <em>Space Alert</em>, <em>Firefly: The Board Game</em>, and <em>Space Cadets: Dice Duel</em> on the go, so please bear with us, we promise we're doing our best to restore our former glory!</div>
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We figured we might as well end this article with a couple of impending releases which currently have us salivating! Free advertising is not what Games & Tea is about, so it's just a coincidence that these are both from Fantasy Flight.</div>
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If you're one of those rare people in the world who have heard of the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise, this might just grab your interest. <em>StarWars: Imperial Assault</em> is a strategy board game set in between <em>A New Hope </em>and <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em>, immediately following on from the destruction of the first Death Star (yes, this means you get to play as non-robohand Luke). Fantasy Flight do seem to be fond of the "1 vs many" gaming style, and they've gone with this approach for <em>Imperial Assault</em>, with one player controlling the Imperial side whilst up to four other players assume the role of the Rebel Alliance.</div>
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As you'd expect from Fantasy Flight, the game components look lavish, with no expense spared in production values. The thing which really caught our attention though is that as well as just setting up for a single game, there is a full narrative campaign of missions which players can enjoy as they watch an unfolding story. With 59 double-sided map tiles there should be no shortage of battlegrounds, so in theory this should be a game with a high replay value.</div>
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Again, sticking with the <em>Star Wars</em> universe (Fantasy Flight do love making the most out of their licenses!) we have <em>Star Wars: Armada</em>. The <em>X-Wing Miniatures Game</em> took the world by storm upon its release last year (check out our review of it <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2013/08/star-wars-x-wing-miniatures-game-part-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>), with demand for more ships far outstripping Fantasy Flight's supply.</div>
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Whilst <em>X-Wing</em> did have a few mid-scaled ships such as The Millennium Falcon and Slave-I, the scale of the fighters made larger ships unfeasible, and even though many players were keen to see the release of Star Destroyers and other such capital ships, most knew it was an unrealistic hope. But Fantasy Flight are never ones to let down their fans and turn down a money-making opportunity in the process, and as a result we have <em>Armada</em> on the way!</div>
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Unlike <em>X-Wing</em>, <em>Armada</em> operates on a much smaller scale. Whereas its predecessor gave players individual fighters to operate, <em>Armada </em>gives you squadrons of fighters which operate as one, and the mid-scaled ships are replaced by the Star Destroyers we all always wanted! It's not just a case of making everything smaller and keeping the rest of the system identical though - for on thing movement is very different, as players find themselves having to compensate for inertia when piloting such hulking masses around the gravity-free abyss of space.<br />
Due for release later this year, <em>Armada</em> does have us very excited, and we're certainly not the only ones hoping it lives up to the hype!</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-25790022969845704202014-07-06T09:00:00.000+01:002014-07-06T09:09:38.644+01:00How We Get (more) Kicks...<div align="justify">
Last year we did a short article entitled "How we get our kicks", just talking about some of the projects we were backing on Kickstarter at the time. Well since that time we've thrown in support for a few more games; the very nearly due <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/820113175/404-law-not-found" target="_blank"><em>404: Law Not Found</em></a>, the resource managing <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/level99games/argent-the-consortium-influence-intrigue-power" target="_blank"><em>Argent: The Consortium</em></a>, the highly anticipated miniatures game <em><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1248312770/guild-ball-a-tabletop-medieval-football-game" target="_blank">Guild Ball</a></em>,<em> </em>and the pirate card game aptly named <em><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1487901731/pirates-card-game-0" target="_blank">Pirates! The Card Game</a></em> - which we had the pleasure of <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/pirates-card-game-kickstarter-review_12.html" target="_blank">previewing</a> back in April.</div>
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We haven't been backing too much lately, as we're currently saving our hard-earned pennies for a Games & Tea trip to Amsterdam to meet the team behind<em> Pirates! </em>(which we will be bringing you full details of), however we have been keeping an eye on the Kickstarter horizon. With this in mind, we thought we'd put together a little compilation of games which have caught our attention on Kickstarter - some for the right reasons, and some for the wrong. These are all live projects at the time of writing, but obviously these will all be completing soon.</div>
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First up, we have <em>Ophir</em>: a resource management game from Terra Nova Games. The first thing which attracted us to the project was the box art - it may sound shallow, but there are so many Kickstarter projects going on at once that we skim them as though we're browsing shelves in a game store. When you're browsing games the fact is a nice box will make you stop and take a look at the game, and <em>Ophir</em> succeeded in grabbing our attention. Once it had done that, the lavish artwork across the board and game components continued to impress us - and a nice touch (which wasn't instantly obvious) is that it's all done in colourblind-friendly colours.</div>
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In the game, players assume the roles of influential merchants, who must work and manage their resources to fund the building of a temple in the titular Ophir. There seems to be a decent amount of depth to the game, with players having to plan efficient trade routes and make use of their influence, before pushing on to build the temple and clock up all-important victory points. It's been generally met with very positive reviews, applauding its strategy, and it seems to have managed to avoid the pitfall of becoming unnecessarily overcomplicated. Sadly we don't have the funds available to back this project ourselves, but if we did then we definitely would, and we sincerely hope to see it on the shelves of our FLGS next year!</div>
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<em>Ophir</em>'s funding period ends on July 14th, and more details can be found <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/justinschaffer/ophir?ref=discovery" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Next up: <em>The Captain is Dead</em> from The Game Crafter. Now we have to admit the artwork doesn't do much for us, but on this occasion it was the name of the game which grabbed us. We've always been fans of shows such as <em>Star Trek</em>, and love things which take a light-hearted look at the genre as a whole.<br />
<em>The Captain is Dead</em> is a co-operative game - and we do like our co-op games here at Games & Tea - wherein the captain of your starship has been killed (obviously), and it's up to the varyingly competent remaining crew to get the ship to safety. Our first thought was that it reminded us of the awesome <em>Space Alert</em>, and so had some fairly large shoes to fill. The board and components do look nice, although the in-game shots from the Kickstarter page do make it look a little busy. We're also not too impressed by the way they're tagging two extra, unrelated games onto this game's campaign - we've seen a few companies do this in the past, and it's always felt as though they're not giving their all to the actual advertised project.<br />
That said, we would love to give this a go, and seeing as it's already smashed its funding goal we're hoping we'll have a chance to pick up a copy when it hits the shelves.<br />
<em>The Captain is Dead</em> finishes on July 12th, and its project page is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thegamecrafter/the-captain-is-dead?ref=discovery" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<em>Castilion</em> is next on our list from Castili Games, which you may remember from our recent preview <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/06/castilion-kickstarter-review-part-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>. In <em>Castilion</em>, players take on the roles of warring factions, starting with a royal, a general, a castle and an army, and given the task of wiping their opponent off the face of the map!</div>
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In the early preview copy we received, <em>Castilion</em> did feel a little rough around the edges, but certainly had a lot of potential. Our feedback to Castili was well-received and taken on board, and the game has now launched with a few revisions from our copy - the most significant being an increase in the number of players. <em>Castilion</em> boils down to a game of strategic hand-management, were either outmaneuvering or out-punching are viable methods to secure your victory!</div>
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<em>Castilion</em> is open for funding until August 2nd, and its full page can be found <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/castilion/castilion?ref=nav_search" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Next to grab our attention: <em>Clash! Dawn of Steam</em> from Mad Ape Games. Now there's no point lying, we clicked on the project because it contained the word "steam" (and we do like a bit of steampunk) and there was a pretty girl. We're shallow, shallow people. That may have just been enough to warrant a passing glance, but when we took a closer look at it our collective jaws dropped. The artwork and overall aesthetic of this game is absolutely gorgeous. In fact, we'd be happy to back this game just to have something nice to look at, regardless of how well it plays!</div>
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Anyway, underneath the lavish artwork there is actually a game, so we really should mention that. <em>Clash! Dawn of Steam</em> is a duelling card game, but it's a non-collectible card game. We've been fans and collectors of <em>Magic: The Gathering</em> for around 4 years now, and whilst we do enjoy it, it is often overshadowed by the fact that it can be won or lost at the deck-building stage before any cards are even drawn. As a result, games like <em>Clash!</em> have fallen further and further into our favour, giving a balanced duelling game out of the box, where battles are won by skill and strategy, rather than by the player who spent more on eBay last week.</div>
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<em>Clash! Dawn of Steam</em> finishes on July 16th, and we certainly hope it reaches target so that we might bring you our thoughts on it next year! Its page can be found <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madapegames/clash-dawn-of-steam-the-card-game?ref=discovery" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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And finally we had to give a mention to <em>Zombicide Season 3</em> - a game which has got our attention for all the wrong reasons. Now the hardcore <em>Zombicide</em> fanbase have already bashed us on Facebook for our opinion on this matter, but that's not going to keep us quiet. This is a game which we absolutely don't believe should be on Kickstarter. The first two <em>Zombicide </em>games were tremendously successful, and as such Cool Mini or Not should be able to produce the latest incarnation without resorting to crowd funding. The very point of Kickstarter is to get independent projects off the ground, not to be a lazy pre-order system.</div>
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Of course it is tempting to back - the fact of the matter is <em>Zombicide Season 3</em> will hit so many stretch goals (having hit its $100k target in 6 minutes) that any backer will end up with more free stuff than they'll know what to do with. However, the fact that <em>Zombicide</em> is now a game that everyone just buys at the Kickstarter stage means that very few real gaming stores stock it, and the knock on of that is that in our experience no one wants to play it! We bought the first <em>Zombicide</em> off the shelf post-Kickstarter, and have only been lucky enough to squeeze in two games - and the fact of the matter is, it's not a great game. It's above average, and the miniatures are lovely, but it's very repetitive, has a lot of set-up and packing away, and comes with a high price tag.</div>
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Putting <em>Zombicide Season 3</em> on Kickstarter feels a bit like if Disney decided to crowd fund the new <em>Star Wars</em> trilogy - they have the resources to do it themselves, and they know it's going to be popular, but they'd rather not dip into their bank account.</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-80833285420691501012014-06-17T20:06:00.003+01:002014-07-01T20:27:45.563+01:00Castilion Kickstarter Review, Part 2: Gameplay & Verdict<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="color: red;">This review is for a project still at the Kickstarter stage. As such, final game contents may vary from those shown here.</span></strong></div>
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Welcome back, gentle readerfolk! In our <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/06/castilion-kickstarter-review-part-1.html" target="_blank">last article</a> we dissected the contents of the Kickstarter project <em>Castilion</em>: a 2 player strategy game from Joe Mellanby for 2 players. Now it's time to draw our swords, nock our arrows and... umm... wave(?) our spears, as we march to battle and bring you our verdict on the gameplay!<br />
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In Part 1 of the review we looked at the various different decks of cards which make up <em>Castilion</em>, as well as the gaming board. Once both players have selected their Castle, General, Royal, and army, there's nothing left but to take to the field and let battle commence!<br />
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Each player has 2 playing pieces - one representing the General, and one representing the castle (we didn't show these in Part 1 as we were playing with prototype pieces) - and these both begin the game on their castle's respective spaces on the board. The castle piece actually remains there for the game, just to mark out the players' strongholds to each other, whilst the General piece tracks the movement of the armies.<br />
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Both players have their own gaming area, where their troop deck, movement deck, and graveyard are all kept. At the beginning of their turn, they draw 3 cards from the troop deck and 2 from the movement deck, and add them to their hand. Armies can be moved up to 2 spaces per turn, after which they players can discard as many movement cards as they wish out of their hands to continue moving up to the number of spaces on those cards. Now the rules of the game didn't specify a hand limit, so when we raised this issue with <em>Castilion</em>'s creators they suggested we try out a hand limit and see how it plays.<br />
Eventually we settled on a hand limit of 8, and this really did seem to work. This gave players the options of either filling their hands with movement cards and having light hit and run armies, or letting them load up with troop cards, restricting their movement but allowing their army to pack a wallop when they finally reach their target, which brings us to the main aspect of the game...<br />
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Unoccupied castle spaces on the board are effectively safe zones, meaning players can't be attacked as long as their army is occupying one of those spaces. Those safe zones aside, if a player ends his movement in the same space as their opponent's army - or their castle - then it's time for battle to commence!<br />
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Battles are resolved using the troop cards in each players' hands, which is why it's important to find a balance between troops and movement! All of the cards in the coloured troop decks feature Attack and/or Defence stats in the top-left corner, and these are used to determine the outcome of the battles.<br />
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The coloured decks, as mentioned in Part 1, are broken down into Troops, Actions, Formations, and Items. In order to attack an opponent's army or castle, a player must have at least one Troop-type card. They can then add to that any other cards from their hand (or their General if they wish), as long as they are of the same colour, up to a maximum of 5. This makes hand-management essential, as having one colour of Troop in a hand full of a different colour's Actions/Formations/Items means that you're not in as strong a position as you may hope for!<br />
The defending player must defend their army in the same manner - first of all needing a minimum of one Troop, and then adding defensive equipment and formations as they see fit. Once both players have chosen their cards they are revealed to each other, and total Attack and Defence values compared - the highest total coming out victorious.<br />
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In the example above, the green player has attacked using four cards, with an attack total of 60. The red player was fortunate to have a defensive hand though, and has countered with a defence of 95, resulting in defeat for green!<br />
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When defeated in battle, all of the defeated players cards go to their graveyard, including the general if they took part! Once a player has no more Troop-type cards left in their deck, they can no longer attack or defend, and so must surrender to their opponent - this prevents players from attacking recklessly, forcing further tactical hand-management to ensure their precious Troops remain in play.<br />
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Of course, this only happens if two armies meet each other face to face! If a player manages to attack an opponent's castle whilst their army is preoccupied elsewhere, they effectively get a free swing at the stronghold! In this instance the defending player cannot submit any cards to the battle, and so the attacker's total attack value is dealt as damage to the castle, before they retreat back to their own stronghold. If a player's castle defence value is reduced to 0, they are defeated and the game is over. This is where having a light but fast army can come in useful - chipping away at a castle a little at a time. Of course, there are also merits to a slow moving sledgehammer of an army!<br />
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So that's the basic breakdown of the gameplay mechanic, but what did we think of it?<br />
Well first of all we enjoyed the overall feel of the game - the map, the troop decks, the terrain cards and so on... basically we didn't feel like we were playing a re-hash of another game. There do seem to be a fair few projects on Kickstarter which look as though the designer has just piggybacked onto a successful game, whereas <em>Castilion</em> does feel very much like it's own thing, which is good.<br />
The gameplay itself is easy to pick up. In spite of the fact there are lots of different card types in the game, it's not actually too taxing. We were furnished with a quick-start set of rules and a full set, but we ended up leaping straight in with the full rules and finding ourselves in full swing fairly quickly!<br />
The castles having different defence values based on their proximity to resources is a nice touch, although in 2 player games we felt that allowing players to pick their castles was better than random selection, purely to prevent them from ending up right next door to eachother! In larger multi-player games it wouldn't be an issue, but as a house rule we preferred choosing our own.<br />
The troop decks/battle mechanic were one of our favourite things about <em>Castilion</em> - especially after we'd experimented and settled on a hand limit. Each coloured deck only contains 3 Troop cards, giving each player a total of 6, and seeing as you can't attack or defend without one it forces players to think carefully before charging headlong into battle. The fact that the attack/defence cards need to be of the same colour also adds a nice hand-management element to the game.<br />
Using cards to move is another well-done element once a hand limit has been put into play again. As mentioned previously, it's great to be able to choose whether to have a light/fast or heavy/slow army at your disposal, or even to switch half way through the game to throw off your opponent!<br />
And we did like the fact that there are a few different win conditions - obviously the destruction of the enemy castle is the main one, but depleting your opponents troops will also secure a win, as does defeating their General and Royal. This gives players a few options on how to approach the game, and allow it to fit their play style.<br />
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No game is without flaws though (our first ever 10/10 rating is still up for grabs!), and we'd be neglect in our reviewing duties if we didn't mention the downsides. Whilst we did enjoy playing <em>Castilion</em>, we really do think it's a game which would benefit from more players. We did bring this up with Joe Mellanby, and if the Kickstarter raises enough funds then extra cards/players will be introduced as a stretch goal. We do very much hope for this, as frankly it would take the game to a whole other level! When playing the game we really did think it would great as a 4 player free for all, rather than a 2 player grudge match.<br />
Our other little niggle was the text size on the cards, which older players may have problems with. The attack and defence values are printed quite small, so it may be a struggle for some to actually read the stats on their cards.<br />
And our final nitpick is that of the troop cards. We like that you can only attack or defend with at least one Troop (after all, just having a sword is no good if you've got no one to carry it!), but it seems a shame that the Actions/Formations/Items all work in the same way rather than having something to make the categories matter, such as a bonus of +15 if you use one of each, or something along those lines. Perhaps this will come up in future expansions of the game.<br />
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We do have to say though, that <em>Castilion</em> does seem to be a Kickstarter project being done the right way. Too many large companies approach Kickstarter with a finalised project which backers have absolutely no influence over. With <em>Castilion</em>, the creators do actually respond to constructive criticism and shape the game accordingly! It's for this reason that we're forgoing our usual "Good Points/Bad Points" quick list at the end of the review, as it's an evolving project and so unfair to fire bullet points at!<br />
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For further details about <em>Castilion</em> visit their website <a href="http://www.castilion.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>, and to back the project at Kickstarter level click <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/castilion/castilion" target="_blank">here</a>!<br />
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 2 (Hopefully 4!)</u></strong></div>
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In it's current base state, <em>Castilion</em> is a 2 player release. However, pending Kickstarter success it will be expanded for further players (even up to a total of 8 - one for each castle), and our gut instincts have been telling us that 4 players would make for a very good gaming experience.<br />
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 45 minutes</u></strong></div>
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We found that our <em>Castilion</em> games often started with us tiptoeing around eachother before one player became gutsy enough to make the first strike. Once first blood had been shed, however, the pace soon picked up, and our games usually took around the 45 minute mark.</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: Medium</u></strong></div>
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It's difficult to gauge the replay value on <em>Castilion</em> due to the fact it's still in development. Obviously the different castles, Royals and Generals add some variety across repeat plays, but the grudge match nature of the 2 player game may wear thin without a range of opponents to take on. Again, we do feel that having extra players will help in this matter.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £30</u></strong></div>
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<em>Castilion</em> has just gone live on Kickstarter, now as a four player game! Unless you manage to snag an early bird, a copy of the full game will set you back £30 - a fairly standard price for a specialist game. Backing on the project ends on August 2nd.</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 7/10</strong></span><br />
<strong><span style="color: lime;">(With additional players we'd push this up to a 7.5, maybe an 8)</span></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: A wide range of Twinings herbal teas, gratefully received with our review copy of <em>Castilion</em>! Average brew rating: 7.5/10</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;">If you enjoyed this article and want to see more of the same, come and like us on our </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gamesandtea" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook page</span></a><span style="color: cyan;"> to keep up to date with our reviews, as well as our general day-to-day ramblings!</span></span></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-21855509519854812132014-06-17T18:51:00.000+01:002014-07-01T20:28:44.503+01:00Castilion Kickstarter Review, Part 1: Contents<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="color: red;">This review is for a project still at the Kickstarter stage. As such, final game contents may vary from those shown here.</span></strong></div>
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Kickstarter is continuing to throw a whole plethora of interesting looking offerings into the big old melting pot that is the specialist games market. We do keep an eye on the scene as often as possible and do frequently see a lot which catches our interest, but due to financial restrictions (as mentioned in the past, Games & Tea is a labour of love and we have no gaming budget to speak of) we usually have to just wistfully watch them pass by. More frequently, however, we're being apporached by creators of games in development (such as the recently funded <em><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/pirates-card-game-kickstarter-review_12.html" target="_blank">Pirates!</a> </em>and <em><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/05/good-cop-bad-cop-kickstarter-review.html" target="_blank">Good Cop, Bad Cop</a></em>) to give our thoughts on the game before it hits Kickstarter.</div>
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Such has been the case with our latest review, as we take a look at <em>Castilion</em>: a board game of strategy and bashing your opponent's stronghold to smithereens from Joe Mellanby.<br />
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<em>Castilion</em> is a game for 2 players (with potential for more pending Kickstarter success), in which each player must manage their army in a campaign to bring down their opponent's stronghold. Whilst technically a board game, it does have a very card-heavy element, so let's take a look at the contents before delving into the gameplay...</div>
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First of all we have the board. Now, the more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed the lack of biscuit crumbs and cat fur in this image, giving away the fact that this isn't our photo. This is an image of the artwork from the final board - kindly provided by the game's creators. Seeing as the board in our review prototype was missing the outside edge, we figured we may as well show you the proper thing. The board takes the form of a map, featuring 8 castles, and a few other resource pick-up points, and it's upon this map that the players' armies must face off against eachother. Around the outside of the map there are points to stack the various decks of cards, so this seems as good as time as any to take a look at them...</div>
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Fist of all we have the castles. You can't really have a game called <em>Castilion</em> without castles (well, we suppose you could, but it would be maddeningly illogical), and here we have a fine selection to choose from. as mentioned above, there are 8 castles on the board, and each one has a corresponding card. Each castle starts with roughly 200 damage points, although these vary from one castle to the next - the weaker castles tend to be much closer to resources, whereas the stronger ones are further out in the wilderness where they generally have to take care of themselves. Each player draws one castle at random to act as their stronghold for the game, and the rest are discarded. But a castle is a seat of power, and if you're going to have one then you'll need someone to... well... sit in it! So let's move onto the Royals and the Generals!</div>
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<em>Castilion</em> features one deck of Royals and one deck of Generals, each with slightly differing attack stats (we'll move onto these when we come to gameplay). The Generals lead the players' armies on the battlefield, whilst the Royals largely stay hidden away in their castle, lording it over the small folk. Should the general ever fall in battle, however, the Royal has to take over command and continue the campaign until either death or victory! As with the castles, each player randomly chooses one Royal and one General to start the game, and the rest are discarded.</div>
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So you've got a castle, you've got a Royal and you've got a General - looks like you'll need an army! The armies in <em>Castilion</em> are formed of two coloured decks of 11 cards, with each deck containing Troops, Items, Formations, Actions and a Hero and Heroine. Each player takes two deks, removes one Hero/Heroine from each colour to place face-down beside the board, shuffles them together, and places them face-down in their gaming area.</div>
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No, we're not talking about the waterworks and the electric company. There are three utility cards in <em>Castilion</em>, all of which are one-shot uses which can change the tide of battle. These all begin the game face-up next to the board, and can be claimed by any player who heads to their corresponding map location.</div>
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As any battle-hardened general can attest to, knowing the terrain can make all the difference when it comes to besting an opposing army. The Terrain cards in <em>Castilion</em> simulate that, slowing players' armies to a crawl, or even reducing their battlefield effectiveness at a crucial moment.</div>
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And finally we have the movement cards - a static army is rather easy to outmaneuver or avoid altogether, after all! Each player's army can move up to 2 map spaces per turn under their own steam, but the Movement cards are where players can start to use hit and run attacks, giving their armies the speed needed to pull off their grand plans.</div>
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Phew! So you certainly get a fair old whack in the basic <em>Castilion</em> game! Head on over to Part 2 of the review, and well go through how the game works, and give our final verdict on the gameplay!</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-84865650167422060412014-05-24T16:24:00.000+01:002014-05-24T16:24:43.241+01:00Creating a Warmachine BioShock Army, Episode VI: Anna DeWitt & Little Sister<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have to admit I've taken a week off from the WarmaShock project, and have been indulging a bit in my love of Batman. However, the enthusiasm for the project is still very much there, so I thought I'd mention the last couple of models to join the team whilst I'm in between bouts of painting the dark knight!</div>
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For those who have just joined the article series here, WarmaShock is an ongoing project to create a <em>BioShock</em> army for Privateer Press' <em>Warmachine</em> tabletop system. So far the army has seen Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth Comstock from <em>BioShock Infinite</em>, and the security bots and Eleanor Lamb from <em>Bioshock </em>and <em>BioShock 2</em> - all of which can be seen through the Article Archive tab at the top of the page.</div>
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In today's article we're going to be looking at two new additions; a Little Sister from the first two <em>BioShock</em> games, and Anna DeWitt from <em>BioShock Infinite</em>. It might seem odd to feature two completely different characters in the same article, but I'm doing this for two reasons. First, neither miniature needed much (if any) customisation, so if they had individual articles they'd be very short. And secondly, the miniatures used for both characters come from the same <em>Malifaux</em> box set, so it makes sense to put them both together.</div>
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Thanks, once again, to <a href="http://gmortschaotica.blogspot.co.uk/">GMorts Chaotica</a> for allowing the shameless theft of the photos from his unboxing articles!</div>
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<strong><u>Little Sister</u></strong></div>
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So the box set in question was the <em>No Shelter Here</em> set - Pandora's crew from <em>Malifaux</em>'s Neverborn faction. Straight away from looking at the front of the box it was obvious that I'd gone to the right place for a Little Sister!</div>
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Way back before this was a project to build an army - instead being just a plan to paint some BioShock-y miniatures - I'd actually taken a look at the Pandora box, but couldn't justify buying the entire thing just for a single model (it isn't availably individually, unfortunately). However, once it became an actual army-build and I started throwing money away faster than I could burn it, the <em>No Shelter Box</em> became a more viable option - after all, what's a sixth <em>Malifaux</em> crew when you've already bought five? Besides which, I'd undoubtedly be able to find use for some more of the miniatures.</div>
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So with the box set finally in hand, it was time to get a Little Sister onto the painting table!</div>
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Assembly was nice and straightforward - the newer plastic <em>Malifaux</em> minis tend to be exquisitely detailed, but the trade-off is often that they have tiny fiddly bits which make them a nightmare to assemble! Candy avoids this nicely, with just three pieces to de-flash (which is minimal) and put together. The only non-Little Sister thing about this miniature is the basket, containing candy canes and a human skull. Not exactly fitting with the Little Sister aesthetic, but it's built into the model in such a way that it was beyond my skills to remedy. I've no doubt a more skilled hobbyist could trim off the basket with a good knife and use green stuff to complete the dress (and perhaps even sculpt a Big Daddy doll into her hands), but at this point I'm not that hobbyist!</div>
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With Candy/Little Sister built, I needed a suitable base to attach her to! Normally when I do tabletop armies, I just grit and paint the bases to look like a battlefield, but seeing as that wouldn't really work for Rapture (and only in a limited capacity for Columbia), I've been going for more scenic bases with the WarmaShock project.</div>
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For the Little Sister, my basing plan came from one particular area in <em>BioShock 2</em>: the Little Sister Orphanage. In Rapture, Little Sisters are walking ADAM factories - the substance which allows the creation of the superpower-granting Plasmids - but they start their lives as ordinary little girls, and these girls come straight from the Little Sister Orphanage. In large parts of Rapture, the flooring consists of lavish carpets or polished marble, but the orphanage is all wooden floorboards and other such typical orphanage furnishings. Wooden floorboards are certainly easy enough to replicate, but whilst bits box-rummaging down at Titan Games I actually found a resin base which would work even nicer, as it featured a little more detail. So I nabbed this base, stuck Candy onto it, and one paint job later, I had a Little Sister to add to the army...</div>
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The head popping out of the broken flooring was actually part of the base - presumably meant to be some kind of apparition arising out of a vortex, but being Rapture I just painted the vortex to look like water (with the addition of some clear resin effect), and just made the head into a melty-faced splicer, who had presumably just met his end at the hands of the Sister's Big Daddy!</div>
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In gameplay terms, she'll be using the card of Gaston Crosse - the new Mercenary journeyman warcaster. It's a bit of an odd one, I admit, but I liked the idea of the Little Sister controlling her own Big Daddies, so in terms of gameplay it should actually be quite fitting.</div>
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<strong><u>Anna DeWitt</u></strong></div>
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<strong><span style="color: red;">Warning! This section of the article contains spoilers! If you haven't yet finished <em>BioShock Infinite</em> then only continue at your own risk.</span></strong></div>
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The other model in the <em>No Shelter Here</em> box I was planning to use was Baby Kade, the baby with the knife in his hand and demonic look in his eyes. I wasn't sure what to do with him, apart from make him another resident of the Little Sister Orphanage - obviously the Sisters we always see in the game are probably around 6-7 years old, but one would assume the orphanage takes them in at a younger age. This would also work with my plan to use him as Reinholdt, as he could then toddle along with the Little Sister and lend her a hand!</div>
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However, before I could get started on him, a good friend and fellow Titan Games regular suggested that he could be used to make Anna DeWitt - Booker's missing daughter from <em>BioShock Infinite.</em> Always susceptible to suggestion, I immediately seized this idea and ran with it, and that very evening I started working on ideas of how to turn Baby Kade into Anna DeWitt.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeLnZFcExMMrT9gGC4KjckoBlFYO2T3WFxnOnoh5a_Eub2Qb8CZjZMx_I7CYsZ2MJVDSZdzMGX1UR1nEfpUbOFvZugXUVJYP55gyFt5xJY6BmQtI6D3QdAroSjhrpwY2EACAKMMYN5MU/s1600/Unboxing+Pandora+-+Baby+Kade+Sprue+(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQeLnZFcExMMrT9gGC4KjckoBlFYO2T3WFxnOnoh5a_Eub2Qb8CZjZMx_I7CYsZ2MJVDSZdzMGX1UR1nEfpUbOFvZugXUVJYP55gyFt5xJY6BmQtI6D3QdAroSjhrpwY2EACAKMMYN5MU/s1600/Unboxing+Pandora+-+Baby+Kade+Sprue+(2).JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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The main problem with a baby in this scale is that there isn't much to work with in terms of conversion options, which meant that I'd have to get creative with the base to ensure that this ended up clearly being Anna DeWitt, and not just some random baby I'd thrown into the army for no discernible reason!</div>
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*FINAL SPOILER WARNING*</div>
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In <em>BioShock Infinite</em>, the protagonist, Booker DeWitt, is a man with a fair degree of inner turmoil, having sold his daughter to pay off a gambling debt (as you do). Many years later he is sent on a job to capture/rescue Elizabeth Comstock from Columbia, and on this job discovers that she has the unique (and often helpful) ability to open up tears between parallel worlds. Well, in a dramatic twist of events at the end of the game, it's discovered that Elizabeth Comstock is, in fact, Anna DeWitt, after Booker sold her to the game's main antagonist Father Comstock. In a further twist, Comstock is, in fact, a parallel world Booker, and Booker-prime's attempt to back out of the deal as Anna was being passed through an inter-dimensional portal resulted in the loss of Anna's little finger, and Elizabeth's subsequent abilities years down the line! Phew!</div>
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To make the model embody Anna, I decided to try and capture the essence of that moment in the base, so with a rough plan in my head, it was time to get started!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If only he'd used one extra "O", maybe Comstock would have listened...</td></tr>
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First of all I assembled Kade, which was again nice and simple. The teddy stayed on the sprue, as it had no place in this scene, and the knife was clipped out of his hand, but aside from that he was simply assembled as normal.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW88m2UU7mcpoCyFg_PoauMTskSXLx100zshab88z4FU7r2JzN8Bc1EBQKDYfkV9X8gFaXoCGky4F1x48uXGPz2KavUGeBd04tRN1M9BZlkrEvNHHwx9-CAv_HhfFqysnf7k3slz6Kzqk/s1600/DSCF6079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW88m2UU7mcpoCyFg_PoauMTskSXLx100zshab88z4FU7r2JzN8Bc1EBQKDYfkV9X8gFaXoCGky4F1x48uXGPz2KavUGeBd04tRN1M9BZlkrEvNHHwx9-CAv_HhfFqysnf7k3slz6Kzqk/s1600/DSCF6079.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then it was time to start the all-important base! I started with a resin street-base which I had on-hand - one of many I'd bought for my Batman miniatures. It was important that the base had a kerb, for reasons we'll come to in a moment...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5MGJQ-fcKB_JlZ9-lgnZLEB4Kf9i0joyxcR_JmDkm1lkkxfyX71Ah9Nju3URqGiM9D2B6lWzvGaLDQ6GxlKmNvaeee3xt9u9hDqPLjc7bEQM1xScWmtiJsOVbuAnYS8OwHeDRPssCAo/s1600/DSCF6080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5MGJQ-fcKB_JlZ9-lgnZLEB4Kf9i0joyxcR_JmDkm1lkkxfyX71Ah9Nju3URqGiM9D2B6lWzvGaLDQ6GxlKmNvaeee3xt9u9hDqPLjc7bEQM1xScWmtiJsOVbuAnYS8OwHeDRPssCAo/s1600/DSCF6080.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next I needed a wall. It would be very difficult for Anna to be passed through a portal in the wall if there wasn't actually a wall, otherwise the portal would just be in thin air. Actually, that would have been just as feasible, but from a modelling point of view it would have been a nightmare, so I was very grateful for the wall.</div>
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I simply used a piece of plasticard for the wall. It was a little bit smooth for brickwork though, so I scored some lines on it to represent bricks, and then gave it a light sanding to try and give it a rougher finish. The other side of the wall I left smooth, as this was going to be the interior of a room, and so was going to be wallpapered. Then I just needed to create the portal itself, which I did by simply drilling a hole in the plasticard and gradually working it wider with a knife.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGlP2JdkGI7HEuuaS6q1AfEVeU08vPznYOzKlr6gdX3Ks5e8RYGwQaqqI7laHQ2Iyla407S1GHm_KrqexV7pdrCThatUAluYGxiL54T3dL2f-eKT3FIUfJvVaAhVAqjFTUqVLeAFF8KM/s1600/DSCF6081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAGlP2JdkGI7HEuuaS6q1AfEVeU08vPznYOzKlr6gdX3Ks5e8RYGwQaqqI7laHQ2Iyla407S1GHm_KrqexV7pdrCThatUAluYGxiL54T3dL2f-eKT3FIUfJvVaAhVAqjFTUqVLeAFF8KM/s1600/DSCF6081.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then I just glued the wall onto the base, flush against the kerb, and used some wooden coffee stirrers to make some floorboards for the other side of the wall. This is where the kerb was important, as that raised level meant that once I'd added the floorboards, both sides of the base were even with eachother, and it also sandwiched the wall in place, preventing it from being knocked off in an inevitable bout of clumsiness later!</div>
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With the base and the miniature both assembled, all that was left was to combine the two and paint them! Again, the paint job did help to bring the scene together a little bit...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0gVoe730-z5AHTEkNoo01qUgC9GTQOyjcxhYmF2WKoUkU2i2JIi4ndFjeoU3CXu8nAB0IeEHWm_x9KRDpPSTmxtXBLnHC11fv6joRsD9d3C4a34RBCC_V0uSZnlBu1PedJBz3wI2sCA/s1600/DSCF6082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH0gVoe730-z5AHTEkNoo01qUgC9GTQOyjcxhYmF2WKoUkU2i2JIi4ndFjeoU3CXu8nAB0IeEHWm_x9KRDpPSTmxtXBLnHC11fv6joRsD9d3C4a34RBCC_V0uSZnlBu1PedJBz3wI2sCA/s1600/DSCF6082.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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As Anna lost her left little finger in the incident, I wanted to add this to the grizzly scene, so I added a small pool of blood around her left hand, along with a streak of blood running down from the postal. Now you could nit-pick at this point, as she wouldn't have lost that finger while the portal was open, but I'm playing the artistic license card here, as it captures the overall scene a little better. On the pavement side of the scene, there is a small patch of blood on the ground, and I even added a dot of flesh for the severed finger. Again, I used artistic license and scrawled the words "Bring us the girl, wipe away the debt" on the wall - these words weren't present in this scene, but they are the words that prompted Booker's sale of Anna, as well as his eventual rescue of Elizabeth, so I felt that including them added to the scene as a whole.</div>
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So that's the latest two miniatures for the army! The splicers are almost done, so they will probably be the next article, but in the meantime thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this!</div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-33038175859003595802014-05-07T14:08:00.000+01:002014-05-08T13:20:17.405+01:00Creating a Warmachine BioShock Army, Episode V: Security Bots<div style="text-align: justify;">
The ongoing WarmaShock project has been progressing nicely! It's been a couple of weeks since the last update, but that's because I've been working on the unit of splicers and the Big Daddies - I've got some fantastic miniatures finished for both, but I'm waiting until all splicers/BD's are finished in order to upload them as a whole. In between splicers, however, I have been working on a few other bits and pieces here and there, so that I don't become bored or resentful towards the unit and stop giving it my best, and that leads me onto this update.</div>
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So far, this army has seen <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/creating-warmachine-bioshock-army_18.html" target="_blank">Booker DeWitt</a> and <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/creating-warmachine-bioshock-army_23.html" target="_blank">Elizabeth Comstock</a> from <em>BioShock Infinite</em>, and <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/creating-warmachine-bioshock-army_21.html" target="_blank">Eleanor Lamb</a> from <em>BioShock 2</em>, so I thought it was time to revisit Rapture and add something quick and easy to the list. Characters are incredibly satisfying to piece together - especially when you feel very passionately about them - but they don't often embody the world around them. That's what I wanted to start doing; converting miniatures which felt like they held the very life and soul of Rapture and Columbia. With the Big Daddies still being worked on there was one other thing which I felt was integral to feel of the first two <em>BioShock</em> games: security bots!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLMQgLhO2L1Gy_p7LsTiZEBKRiTf4tz-H3tfjB5HJrrAYjqjFVAgnOMv8nVcuTnGBn84FyfrFjsXsjSGAxVf6JULxapMeBxe2uB8qBKo6maguX6mlH5ILvcmLUkS-b_vjAl7E8qCDPVUg/s1600/Security_bot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLMQgLhO2L1Gy_p7LsTiZEBKRiTf4tz-H3tfjB5HJrrAYjqjFVAgnOMv8nVcuTnGBn84FyfrFjsXsjSGAxVf6JULxapMeBxe2uB8qBKo6maguX6mlH5ILvcmLUkS-b_vjAl7E8qCDPVUg/s1600/Security_bot.png" height="400" width="376" /></a></div>
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I've always had a soft spot for these guys (or at least since the first time I was able to get them to fight on my side). In the first two games it felt like you could barely turn a corner in Rapture without walking past a security camera and sending a pair of security bots buzzing after you, so I really wanted to have a couple featuring in my army.</div>
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The main problem with the bots is that they are a unique shape. While working on Elizabeth did give me some practice with green stuff, I still wasn't in a position where I would confidently and competently start sculpting something along these lines. So when I started on these bots, I decided that I'd be happy to settle for a miniature which captured the overall feel of them, rather than a perfect, authentic replica.</div>
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The first thing I had to do was to find a model to use at its core. Seeing as the security bot is basically just a machine gun and a camera attached to some rotor blades, the logical place was to start scouring my bits boxes for discarded weapons to work around. Sometimes, though, logic gives way to good fortune, and a trip to my FLGS prevented me from having to start digging!</div>
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My local store, Titan Games, has struck up a good working relationship with Prodos Games - the company behind the tabletop system <em>Mutant Chronicles: Warzone Resurrection</em>. On the day I popped into the store they were showcasing some of the miniatures from their up and coming <em>Alien vs Predator</em> game, and that's when I spotted something pretty cool amongst the range...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCj9QL2I3Q1kgMBp-e7OkLrrTI8IOpnJUSNX2_UPINPQBtJI9GTmok6YjvJ4oq5YH_scM6S-E67FtGSA62dkijPN-L36hMmJG5Z-VVmOzLYgNe5xgt3AltmJgqNu-okUt2a6lrEv0QV8/s1600/600px-Aliens_Sentry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCj9QL2I3Q1kgMBp-e7OkLrrTI8IOpnJUSNX2_UPINPQBtJI9GTmok6YjvJ4oq5YH_scM6S-E67FtGSA62dkijPN-L36hMmJG5Z-VVmOzLYgNe5xgt3AltmJgqNu-okUt2a6lrEv0QV8/s1600/600px-Aliens_Sentry.jpg" height="215" width="400" /></a></div>
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...the colonial marines sentry turrets from <em>Aliens</em>! They may be the wrong shape for the security bots, but as far as capturing the overall feel goes, they seemed like as good a candidate as I was going to get. And to make things even better, it turned out they were giving out free samples of the sentry turrets and alien facehuggers, so I ended up getting a pair of turrets at no charge and before the release date! It certainly felt like a day of hobby win.</div>
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So with the miniatures in hand it was time to go home and start converting...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZ5xxjep2YoDgNTfwLsTjYRpEVeX-mCeFXoNhB_VNrXEu3mmu3tb0RaoIefUosk79BD1P82e8ZodQDZ9rdIZXZOWnBTsdHnPCdH45aOTg-O7OOcpwChG_brmddfZaNXgyY6zoe7vNc6A/s1600/DSCF6045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZ5xxjep2YoDgNTfwLsTjYRpEVeX-mCeFXoNhB_VNrXEu3mmu3tb0RaoIefUosk79BD1P82e8ZodQDZ9rdIZXZOWnBTsdHnPCdH45aOTg-O7OOcpwChG_brmddfZaNXgyY6zoe7vNc6A/s1600/DSCF6045.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The turret miniatures themselves are of fantastic quality. Now I have to say that I'm not the biggest fan of Prodos (to put it mildly) for reasons I won't bother going into here, but the entire <em>AvP</em> range is absolutely stunning. Seeing as I was building bots and not turrets the majority of the stand would be discarded, but there were some parts on it that proved useful. The turret itself has a very nice overall aesthetic so I kept it in one piece, but it did need a couple of additions.</div>
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First of all I wanted to bulk the turrets out a little bit, as they are quite slim. The stand does include a large box which I assume is supposed to be the power unit for the turret, so I clipped this off the stand, filed down the excess, and attached it to the side of the gun.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuIfVYkv25sKDNaGwGrEJ72M2vrmi98HGX_sgbgwInlar2GLDs-ftSt3RivIRLe6OKkL_cQseFcPsLCuuc9qv4JefjB9YKmvhD-1apl7_8Dh_JhPAHr3pQOgIv0cgfXtZb7JyPNy6HhU/s1600/DSCF6047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNuIfVYkv25sKDNaGwGrEJ72M2vrmi98HGX_sgbgwInlar2GLDs-ftSt3RivIRLe6OKkL_cQseFcPsLCuuc9qv4JefjB9YKmvhD-1apl7_8Dh_JhPAHr3pQOgIv0cgfXtZb7JyPNy6HhU/s1600/DSCF6047.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now the eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the turret is upside-down in this photo, and that's the way it's going to stay for the rest of the build. First of all the indentation for attaching it to the stand is perfect for the rotor assembly, and secondly the light which was previously on top of the turret looks great hanging beneath the barrel of the bot.</div>
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Next it was time for the rotor blades. I have to admit I have no idea what these riveted strips are from, but I picked them up whilst rummaging through Titan's bits box a few days beforehand. I didn't know at the time what I'd be using them for, but they felt like they'd come in handy on the WarmaShock build as a whole! Take this as a lesson, kids, buying online might seem great, but never underestimate the benefits of having a good relationship with your FLGS!</div>
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The sprue contained 8 of these strips, so I simply removed one, clipped it in half, and assembled it criss-crossed to make the rotors. Using a clipped-down sewing pin I attached them to the turret, and the security bot had its wings...</div>
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If I was feeling impatient I could have left it there, but something about the bot didn't feel quite right. I soon realised that it wasn't quite tall enough, as the Rapture security bots do seem to have quite a bit of height to them as they come hovering towards you in the game, so I needed to find some way to extend it downwards slightly.</div>
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Back to the stand! The tripod had lost one of its legs when I removed it for the power pack. The remaining skinny leg looked like it might work to add a bit of volume to the bot, so I clipped it off, tried a dry-fit to the model, and it actually did the job pretty well. One dab of superglue later, and the first security bot was built!</div>
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Once the model was painted I attached a length of clear acrylic rod to the back of the model to suspend it above the base, and then all that was left was the base itself. Seeing as these are specifically Rapture bots (Columbia does have its own fliers, but of a very different design) I wanted the bases to be fitting. The Little Sisters are going to be built with wooden floorboard bases to emulate the flooring of the Little Sister Orphanage in <em>BioShock 2</em>, so I decided to do the same with the bases of the bots. Titan luckily had some <em>Malifaux</em> Orphanage Base inserts in stock, so I bought these, painted them up, attached the bots, and hey presto! The WarmaShock army had grown...</div>
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You might have noticed that I've put these on 40mm bases, instead of 30mm. It might seem odd, but if you'll bear with me there's method to the madness! I wanted the miniatures to have the feel of the <em>BioShock</em> security bots, so trawled through the <em>Warmachine </em>Mercenary units to see where they would fit in the best, and as daft as it sounds the Ogrun Bokur was the best!</div>
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Granted he has no ranged weapons, but the Bokur acts as a bodyguard to a warcaster or solo in the army, so this allowed me to have one bot guarding the main warcaster, whilst the other protects the journeyman warcaster. They're solos, so they can happily whizz around the battlefield doing their own thing. And finally - and I found this a nice touch - they're FA2, meaning that the army can only contain two of them. If you've played <em>BioShock 1</em> or <em>2</em> you'll know that your character can never control more than two security bots at once, so even this is fitting.</div>
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So that's the latest addition to the army! As I said earlier, the Big Daddies are under construction (2 completed, 3 to go), as are the splicers (4 down, 6 to go), and the first Little Sister is also done, so hopefully the next update should be fairly soon!</div>
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As always, I hope you enjoyed this article, and I hope to see you again for the next addition to the force!</div>
Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-67584884239285959112014-05-05T22:57:00.000+01:002014-05-06T13:41:59.266+01:00Good Cop Bad Cop Kickstarter Review<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><span style="color: red;">This review is for a project still at the Kickstarter stage. As such, final game contents may vary from those shown here.</span></strong></div>
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As Games & Tea heads towards its first birthday (we're expecting cake - please don't let us down), it's delighted us just how much we're making in-roads in the gaming scene. Sure, we're probably at least a couple of weeks away from being mobbed by adoring fans in the street, but over the last couple of months we've had the nice experience of games developers approaching us to review their up and coming games. It's our pleasure to bring you another one of these now, in the form of <em><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1026360181/good-cop-bad-cop" target="_blank">Good Cop Bad Cop</a></em> from Overworld Games: a semi-cooperative card game of hidden identities, deception, and occasionally shooting someone just out of spite/to be on the safe side.</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" src="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1026360181/good-cop-bad-cop/widget/video.html" style="height: 360px; width: 497px;" width="480"> </iframe>
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<em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> is for 4-8 players, and each player (as the name implies) takes on the role of a police officer (or "cop", as we understand the cool kids call them these days). Some of these cops will be the very embodiment of honesty, whilst some of them will be a crooked as a politician, and it's the aim of the game for each team to eliminate the leader of their opponents. Unfortunately this isn't quite as easy as you might first think, as the crooked cops have done a fine job of covering their tracks, so nobody at the start of the game knows which players are crooked and which are honest (aside from themselves, obviously). As such, the game starts out with an investigatory feel until players know just whom they can trust, after which it can descend into all-out interdepartmental war!</div>
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Well that's the rough outline of the game, so let's take a look at the components and then break down just how it all works!</div>
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There are three main types of cards in <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em>: Integrity, Equipment, and Guns.</div>
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The Integrity cards determine whether a player is honest or crooked. At the beginning of each game, each player is dealt three Integrity cards which they must look at and then place face-down in front of themselves. If the majority of the cards are honest then the player is honest, and vice-versa. One player will find the Agent card amongst their Integrity cards and one player the Kingpin, which will mark them out as the leaders of the honest and crooked cops respectively, regardless of their other Integrity cards.</div>
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Once these cards are placed face-down they have to remain in the same order, which will come into play as one of the game's major mechanics shortly...</div>
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The Equipment cards are the next to be dealt out, as each player is dealt one at random, which they keep hidden from everyone else. The majority of these can be used at any point in the game, and have effects ranging from the revival of an eliminated player, to switching another player's allegiance for the remainder of the game. Each player can only carry up to one item of Equipment at a time, so having the right gear on-hand can be a game-changer at critical points!</div>
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And then we have the Gun cards. These are used to eliminate other players, including the all-important Agent/Kingpin. There aren't enough Guns in the game for each player to carry one at the same time, so knowing when to sit back and investigate or when to arm yourself for the coming storm can be the key to victory.</div>
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Once everyone has their trio of Integrity cards and their item of Equipment, the game beings, starting with the player who most recently told a lie - of course getting said player to admit this can be troublesome, as their credibility has already been brought into question.</div>
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During each players turn they may only take one action out of four possible options. They can Investigate another player, which involves taking a look at one of their Integrity cards and returning it to its face-down position. This is where maintaining card order becomes important, as investigating would obviously become impossible if players could shuffle their Integrity cards between each turn.</div>
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The second action option is Equip, in which a player may draw a card off the top of the Equipment deck.</div>
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Thirdly we have the Arm action, where a player takes one of the Gun cards from the centre of the table and aims it at another player. Whilst having a Gun obviously gives players the power of life and death/grievous wounding over the others, the act of taking one does require the player to turn one of their Integrity cards face-up, and so can bring the wrath of the opposing team bearing down upon them! This makes Gun-grabbing a tactical risk, rather than something to just be done casually.</div>
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If you've got a Gun you might as well use it! The final action is to Shoot, where the player pulls the trigger on their unfortunate target. The target of the attack must flip all of their Integrity cards face-up, and if they are the Agent or the Kingpin they take a wound. If they are hit a second time, they are out of the game, and their team is defeated. If the shot player is just a regular honest/crooked cop then a single shot is enough to eliminate them from the game.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"That gunshot wound looks pretty nasty, boss. I think you're gonna need two plasters for that."</td></tr>
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After the action phase, if the player is holding a Gun they can choose to re-aim it at another target, and then play passes to the next player along. Play continues this way until either the Agent or Kingpin are eliminated, or until one player takes control of both the Agent and Kingpin cards, which results in victory for the crooked team.</div>
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So that's the basics of the gameplay. But how well does it work?</div>
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The first hidden identity game which we played was <em><a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/03/the-resistance-part-2-gameplay-verdict.html" target="_blank">The Resistance</a></em>, which, whilst a lot of fun, did have its share of shortcomings - one of which was that accusations of loyalty and treason started getting regularly thrown around at the very start of each game. <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> has avoided this pitfall first of all by leaving all players in the dark about one another, and secondly by giving players the power to eliminate eachother. Shouting up your suspicions about a crooked cop in the game's early stages may seem like a bold move, but in all likelihood it will just end up putting you on the wrong end of a crooked gun! The option is certainly there to voice your suspicions, or share the findings of your investigations, but we found that most players erred on the side of caution and kept their opinions to themselves for as long as possible.</div>
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This makes the investigation part of the game highly crucial, as players are forced seek out just who they can trust and who is a threat. After several games with a variety of different players, we have to admit that this does start the game off at quite a slow pace, however once players start to get an idea of who is on their side (even if it's just one other player) things start to pick up, and the game quickly becomes quite cutthroat and frantic!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like we've got ourselves a Mexican stand-off...</td></tr>
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One of the mechanics to which we all gave a wholehearted thumbs-up was the aiming of the Guns - specifically down to the fact that it must be done at the end of the player's turn. This prevents players from simply aiming and pulling the trigger, as the round of play in between can completely change their plans on who to eliminate. This comes into play all the more so in larger games, adding a whole new level of depths as affiliations may be revealed and new suspicions raised in their place. One more than one occasion we've witnessed players picking up a Gun card and then changing their target three or four times before finally taking the shot! On top of the aiming we also liked the fact that taking a Gun in the first place reveals one of your Integrity cards, giving other players hint at your affiliation, or giving you a chance at a devious bluff.</div>
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And finally we have to give credit to the Equipment cards, which can literally change the course of the game at the drop of a hat. There are some cards which appear much more potent than others, such as Taser, which allows a player to steal someone else's Gun, or Blanks, which prevents Guns from being fired during a particular turn. However, some of the less-potent looking cards can be used to devastating effect at the right time. The Bribe card is a great example, as it allows a player to switch one of their Integrity cards with that of another player. This may not sound amazing at first glance, but if you're an honest cop and your Agent's already taken a wound and has weapons aimed at him by the crooked cops, it can allow you to take the Agent card for yourself, giving your team the drop on those dirty crooked officers! Each Equipment card is completely unique, and with a hand limit of just one, it's unlikely that the entire deck will be cycled through during a single game, so repeats of the same effect will be avoided. This is a bit of a double-edged sword, however, as players will soon learn the effects of each of the Equipment cards - if the only card that can foil their plan has already been played, they know that they can go ahead without any danger. We couldn't help but think that if the Equipment deck was doubled in size to two of each card, this could be resolved, adding a little more tension as the game progresses.</div>
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The other real downside of <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> is purely statistical, and comes into play during smaller games. It's entirely possible after the Integrity cards have been dealt out, that the Agent or Kingpin can be the only player on their team. Within our first few test games we saw both sides of this, with the Agent left alone in one game, and the Kingpin left flying the crooked flag solo in the next. This meant that once the single player shot their opposite number for the first time, every other player in the swiftly picked up a weapon and gunned them down before they could pick up another Gun and finish the job. In both cases the imbalance wasn't noticed until the shooting began, but it was a bit demoralising for the single player to find out that they never stood much of a chance to begin with. As we say though, this is entirely a statistical issue, and doesn't effect larger games.</div>
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Stepping away from the mechanics, it's physically a nice game to play. Being purely a pack of cards, <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> is very easy to transport. Things like the active player or wound markers could have been done as punch-out tokens, but by keeping them as cards the entire game fits very neatly into a box no larger than a poker deck.</div>
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As each player will never need more than 5 cards in front of them at once (three Integrity, one Gun, one Wound), it doesn't require a great deal of playing space. In fact when out FLGS was packed to the rafters, our first games of <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> were played in a pub garden with five of us around a relatively small table!</div>
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And in terms of the cards themselves, they're pretty darn nice to look at. You won't find any lavish artwork in <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em>, but the simplified silhouettes on the cards fit the feel of the game perfectly, and make it aesthetically very pleasing.</div>
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Overall our experience of <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> has been a positive one, and if you wish to support it at the Kickstarter level then you have until May 20th to get on board <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1026360181/good-cop-bad-cop" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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<li><em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> is an easy to learn game and quick to play.</li>
<li>Set up space is small, and it's a game which can literally fit in your pocket.</li>
<li>Unlike some hidden identity games, players are not rewarded for throwing blind accusations around.</li>
<li>The wide variety of Equipment cards can shake the game up in various ways when players least expect it.</li>
<li>It's a great game for large groups, accommodating up to 8 players.</li>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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Team-balancing becomes an issue in smaller games</div>
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Experienced players can learn to wait until certain Equipment cards have been played, removing other players' chances to foil them.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 6+</u></strong></div>
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The team-balance issue is most frequent in 4 player games, and occasionally crops up with 5 players. With 6 or more it seems to have been pretty much eliminated, but <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> is definitely a game which gets better with larger crowds. If you can pull together a full lineup of 8 players then we'd highly recommend it!<br />
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 15-30 minutes</u></strong></div>
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Depending on player numbers, <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> will take 15-30 minutes to play - obviously with higher player numbers there has to be more investigation before players start shooting wildly! Being quick and fun to play though, the entire group was happy to play a few games back to back.</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: Medium/High</u></strong></div>
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Whilst <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em> doesn't have much by way of additional mechanics to make each playthrough different, hidden identity games by their very nature owe their replayability to the group. They are the specialist gaming scene's equivalent of poker, and as long as you have a group who can stonewall eachother and keep their affiliations under wraps until the last possible moment, games like this can be brought back out again and again.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Under Investigation...</u></strong></div>
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<em>Good Cop Bad Cop </em>is still at the Kickstarter stage, so right now all attention is on making this game see the light of day. Once it reaches general release, the option of additional cards may be addressed. With simple games such as this, too many additional mechanics can rob it of its character, but simple additions such as new Equipment cards - or even a third character card such as Internal Affairs for larger games - could be used to help it go the extra mile. At this point this is purely our whimsical speculation, but it's worth keeping an eye on!</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £15/$14</u></strong></div>
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Being a Kickstarter project, it's up to each backer how much they'd like to pledge to <em>Good Cop Bad Cop</em>. A $14 pledge will secure you a copy of the game upon its release including postage within the US, so with the additional cost of postage to the UK, this works out around the £15 mark.</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Typhoo, milk and 2 sweeteners. Brew rating: 9/10</span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;">If you enjoyed this article and want to see more of the same, come and like us on our </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gamesandtea" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Facebook page</span></a><span style="color: cyan;"> to keep up to date with our reviews, as well as our general day-to-day ramblings!</span></span></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921728435169038465.post-72140103159911545082014-04-28T12:40:00.001+01:002014-04-28T18:43:12.805+01:00Zombies Keep Out, Part 2: Gameplay & Verdict<div style="text-align: justify;">
In our last article we headed back to the much-beloved world of zombies, taking a look at the box contents for Privateer Press' new release, <a href="http://www.gamesandtea.com/2014/04/zombies-keep-out-part-1-box-contents.html" target="_blank"><em>Zombies Keep Out</em></a><em> - </em>a co-operative game for 1-6 players. Now it's time to have a good look at the gameplay mechanics, and reward it with its coveted* Games & Tea final score (*Games & Tea final score may not actually be coveted).</div>
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In <em>Zombies Keep Out</em>, players take on the roles of the Bodgers - a team of tinkering goblins who find their workshop under siege from an approaching zombie horde. The players must work together to fend off the zombie horde and cobble together 3 contraptions to stop them, before the zombies overrun the barricades and swarm through the workshop!</div>
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The zombies' shambling routes are arranged into nice neat columns (whoever said zombies are messy?), with the zombie pool at the bottom of the board and the workshop along the top. To begin the game, the bottom two rows are filled with zombies, with one in each space. There are four different types of zombies - Creepers, Leapers, Brutes and Runners - each of which are colour-coordinated with a certain area of the workshop. The initial setup zombies are placed to match up with their corresponding locations, so the cellar (far-left) is faced with yellow Creepers, the front doors (centre) with a pair of red Brutes etc. With the zombies places, the initial barricade tokens are placed on each workshop location, giving the Bodgers' stronghold a decent headstart over the horde. Then a face-down contraption card is placed next to each workshop location, initial part cards are dealt out to the players, and then you're ready to go! This is a nice, short setup sequence, meaning that players won't be left waiting for mountains of game components to be sorted and shuffled.</div>
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The player most prepared for a real-life zombie outbreak goes first - which in a crowd of zombie fans can lead to some arguing before the game even begins! Once the argument has been settled (trial by combat is a favoured way of resolving things), the game can finally begin as the zombies get underway!</div>
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The first phase of each player's turn is dedicated to the zombies, as the active player draws a Terrible Things card off the top of the deck. The Terrible Things cards throw new ever-changing challenges the players' way, ranging from minor annoyances to flat out disasters! Terrible Things include adding to the number of active zombies on the board (as in the example above), moving zombies, backtracking on an in-progress blueprint, discarding all-important parts cards, or getting bitten (which is one of our favourite mechanics, and will be mentioned in more detail later!).</div>
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Each Terrible Things card contains three options, and the player must choose one of these actions to go ahead with. Once the action is chosen, the player discards the card face-down and carries it out. The rejected options are never revealed to the other players, which is a nice minor rule to keep players from second-guessing eachother. The chosen action must be possible however, so a player wouldn't be able to choose a "All zombies in the rear row shamble forward" option if there were no zombies in the rear row. In the event of none of the options being possible, then all zombies on the board advance!</div>
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Whilst there are four different zombie types, Privateer Press have kept things simple in terms of movement, and each zombie only moves one space when prompted. The zombies always follow the path of the appropriately-coloured arrow, so the grey Runners always shamble straight forward, whilst the Creepers, Leapers and Brutes do their utmost to head towards the matching area of the workshop. Now moving one space at a time may seem quite harmless and manageable, but once the zombie numbers begin to rise, chaos can ensue!</div>
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Each space can only contain a maximum of 3 zombies, so if there are ever any more than that, the active player must shamble some of them further on until only 3 remain. Of course, this can have a knock-on effect of causing further spaces to exceed their zombie limit, and further shambling is called for! In worst case scenarios, a simple shamble can cause a butterfly effect which brings the whole workshop crashing down!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Avon calling..."</td></tr>
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If a zombie needs to shamble whilst in the final space of a column, they deal damage to the barricade and are returned to the zombie pool, and this is where strategic zombie-placement comes into effect. The grey Runners only ever deal 1 point of damage to their target, but if any of the other zombie types ever hit a section of the workshop which matches their colour, it deals 2 damage instead. If an area of the workshop ever loses its final barricade token, it's considered to be overrun, and the contraption behind it is removed from play, and any further damage which would be dealt to that section is instead dealt to the next section across in the direction of the central doors. If the doors are ever breached, or three of the contraptions are destroyed, the zombies have overwhelmed the workshop and the players lose.</div>
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Once the Terrible Things card has been resolved, the player then takes their action for the turn.</div>
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We'd just like to pause at this point to make a small note about the turn sequence. We think it's a bloomin' good sequence! Most zombie games involve the player taking their turn first, and then the zombies activating afterwards. By reversing the process in <em>Zombies Keep Out</em>, players are given the chance the react to the unfolding events, rather than being left on the sidelines for a round until the turn passes back to themselves. It may only seem like a little thing, but it makes a lot of difference to the way the game feels.</div>
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Anyway, moving swiftly on to the players' actions. During each turn the player may only take one action out of five possible choices. Three of those options revolve around the part cards, so this seems as good a time as any to take a closer look at them.</div>
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There are three sections to each parts card, relating to the three possible actions for which they can be discarded in exchange. To use the card to Defend, the player selects one space on the board and can remove a zombie of the specified colour, returning it to the pool. The card above is a versatile one, allowing the player to kill any of the zombie types. Some are more limited in their zombie-killing options, whereas others may restrict players to one zombie type, but allow them to kill two of that zombie instead.</div>
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To carry out a Repair action, the player can add a number of barricade tokens equal to the number shown to any location in the workshop, as long as they don't exceed the starting number of barricades.</div>
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To Tinker, the symbol on the parts card must match the next symbol along on the blueprint track of any contraption card. If it matches, the progress counter can be moved one space along the track.</div>
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Once the progress counter reaches the final space on the blueprint track, the contraption is complete, and it can be put to use on subsequent player turns. The one and only win condition for the game is to complete three of these contraptions, so good hand-management is key to victory.</div>
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Which brings us to Push The Button actions. When a contraption is complete, a player can take a Push The Button action to activate the contraption during their turn. Contraptions have a range of effects, from allowing players to draw extra cards, to allowing them to destroy zombies without having to discard. Completing a contraption at the right time can turn the tide of battle!</div>
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And then the final action is simply to Scrounge, which allows players to draw two extra parts cards.</div>
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In addition to their action, players may also trade cards with eachother, ensuring that the correct parts come up when needed.</div>
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Once the player has taken their chosen action, play moves onto the next player, and another Terrible Things card starts the ball rolling again.</div>
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So that just leaves biting! The bite rules were one of our favourite things about <em>Zombies Keep Out</em>, so we'll go into them in a little more depth here. The only way players can get bitten is as the result of a Terrible Things card, and upon getting bitten they receive a bite token. If at any point every player has at least 2 bite tokens, the game is over and the zombies have won (but seeing as the players are turning into zombies anyway, it's a win-win situation really). The number of bite tokens a player has reduces their action options, but the rules about behaviour are the most fun!</div>
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After one bite, players can no longer trade cards, and must slur their speech for the rest of the game.</div>
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After two bites, they can no longer tinker either (picture a mindless player who can only bash things and nail up planks of wood!), and their speech must become barely intelligible.</div>
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After three bites, they can no longer use speech at all, and can only communicate through grunts and hand-gestures (imagine the fun of trying to teach the game to new players at this point!). Also the player has to choose their Terrible Things option before even looking at the card, by grunting and holding up the appropriate number of fingers before drawing it.</div>
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And after four (or more) bites, the player has fully turned into a zombie! They can only communicate through zombie noises, and instead of taking an action in the second phase of the turn, they draw a second Terrible Things card instead!</div>
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And that's the basics of <em>Zombies Keep Out</em>. It's not the most complicated game by any means, but is a nice casual take on the zombie board game genre. The quick setup time and small board mean that it's an easy game to get out, play through, and put away again, making it a nice way to break up a long gaming session. It's also quick to learn, and within a few minutes of our first session everyone confidently knew what they were doing. Being a casual game, it does create a very good atmosphere with like-minded friends, but this is where the issues with <em>Zombies Keep Out</em> start to arise.</div>
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It's a good social game, and the bite rules are fun for those who have been bitten and entertaining for those who are watching, but the flipside of this is that the overall experience begins to diminish as player numbers decrease. When you're only playing with 2 players, for example, and one player gets bitten, it becomes less fun for the healthy player as they no longer have a coherent teammate to communicate with.</div>
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The solo game suffers from the same setback, as you're left trying to play a social game without the social element. There are many cooperative games on the market which can be played solo - some, such as <em>Firefly,</em> work incredibly well, and some, such as <em>Arkham Horror</em>, are a masterclass in futility as the game mechanics fail to translate to a single player. In both of these cases however, you're still left feeling immeresed in the game, whether scraping together a living as a planet-hopping transport captain, or struggling against an unstoppable tide of eldritch horrors. With a solo game of <em>Zombies Keep Out</em>, you aren't left feeling like you're boldly taking on the army of the undead single-handedly, but instead feel more like you're playing a game of solitare - simply hoping you draw the right cards from the parts deck for the blueprints in front of you.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvw9Mx8Bswoy6VwMlJzfwcj1ms05oBvKeyDGRfzu46s2ztEiw5o1hokMVmUaZyuQ2uezFt11l33nmXgduy7eR-qMk7rCgJiJ6dfZ-g9u4IRjhTBKM3qgumgAjlnmLOfzzq3W4eHUxaqQ/s1600/Han-Solo-Carbonite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvw9Mx8Bswoy6VwMlJzfwcj1ms05oBvKeyDGRfzu46s2ztEiw5o1hokMVmUaZyuQ2uezFt11l33nmXgduy7eR-qMk7rCgJiJ6dfZ-g9u4IRjhTBKM3qgumgAjlnmLOfzzq3W4eHUxaqQ/s1600/Han-Solo-Carbonite.jpg" height="318" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solo will not be needed for this game...</td></tr>
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And finally we should touch on the replayability, of which there isn't a great deal. It's certainly a fun little casual game, but there isn't much going on to make one playthrough different to another. Sure, you don't know what the next Terrible Things card might yield, but when they all serve roughly the same purpose - and the entire deck is cycled through once per game anyway - repetitition creeps in fairly quickly.</div>
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So is this the zombie game we've been dreaming of to keep our undead fandom satisfied? Alas, no. But at the very least it's a nice little casual game which will tide us over until the next contender steps into the ring.</div>
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<strong><u>The Good Points</u></strong></div>
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<li><em>Zombies Keep Out</em> is quick to set up and easy to learn.</li>
<li>Up to 6 people can play at once, so it can accomodate a decent-sized gaming group.</li>
<li>The bite rules lift the game up a notch, so as long as the group is willing to play along it creates a very fun atmosphere.</li>
<li>The box and board are relatively small, making it an easy game to transport and play.</li>
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<strong><u>The Bad Points</u></strong></div>
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There's not a great deal to mix things up between playthroughs, and replayabilty suffers as a result.</div>
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Being a social game, a lot of the atmosphere is lost with fewer player numbers, and solo mode verges on becoming a drag.</div>
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Some variety in the zombie miniatures would have been nice.</div>
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<strong><u>Recommended Number of Players: 4+</u></strong></div>
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<em>Zombies Keep Out</em> is a textbook "the more, the merrier" game. The atmosphere doesn't hold up well with 2 players, and whilst 3 is a step in the right direction it's still not great. 6 players works very well, but anything above/including 4 should make for a decent session.</div>
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<strong><u>Average Game Time: 45 minutes (30 minutues solo)</u></strong></div>
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For a casual game, <em>Zombies Keep Out</em> has quite a decent play time. At 45 minutes, you're unlikely to be playing it more than once in a single gaming session, which is actually a good thing as it extends the game's otherwise meagre lifespan</div>
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<strong><u>Replay Value: Low</u></strong></div>
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Whilst it's fun laughing at the grunts and frustrated hand gestures of your infected teammates, this isn't enough to hold up <em>Zombies Keep Out</em> by itself. It's a nice little game for the first couple of playthroughs, but following on from that it becomes stale and repetitive, with nothing really to keep it refreshed.</div>
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<strong><u>The Future: Shambling</u></strong></div>
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<em>Zombies Keep Out</em> is a new release, so the future is quite open at the moment. The first expansion is already on the horizon in the form of <em>Night of the Noxious Dead</em>, but to be honest it doesn't look like it'll be enough to breath life into the core game. The expansion features a new zombie type, new contraptions, new Terrible Things and new parts, but on the whole it looks like it's going to be more of the same, which isn't going to help an already samey game.</div>
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<strong><u>Price: £25</u></strong></div>
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<em>Zombies Keep Out</em> will set you back around the £25 mark. This is a decent price for a board game, but has to be weighed up against how much replayability you'll be getting out of it. Being a new release from a big name in the miniatures world, it should be fairly easy to track down at your local gaming store if you fancy taking a chance on it.</div>
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<span style="color: lime; font-size: x-large;"><strong>OVERALL SCORE: 7/10</strong></span></div>
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<strong><span style="color: orange;">Tea consumed during this review: Typhoo, milk and 2 sweeteners. Brew rating: 7.5/10</span></strong></div>
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Rob Hallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10660315214958310330noreply@blogger.com0