More Games With Staying Power

Many years ago I stumbled on a computer game called Space Hulk. In the game you led some space marines into a mysterious spacecraft and then tried to survive waves of attacks by hideous space monsters. The sound effects were super effective and my room echoed with shouts, gunfire, and space monster roars for months. Later on I discovered that the game was based on a successful board game. At the time, though, the experience of leading my hapless heroes through one ambush after another made a huge impression.

Fast forward to a few years ago, when I picked up Space Hulk- Death Angel. This is a card game that allows you to play out the same basic experience as Space Hulk. The card game can be played solitaire or with friends and as it was pretty cheap I thought I'd give it a go. Years later it's possibly my most played game.

The essence of the Space Hulk experience for me is that you're commanding a team that only has about a 20% chance of surviving. You're not playing to achieve a wild success, you're playing to maybe eject one grizzled survivor from the spooky space hulk or more likely at least have a dramatic chase through the ship before going down with guns blazing. You know that you're going to need lots of luck and when you finish a game in complete defeat you're already gearing up for another chance to get lucky and survive.

Good Times on the 386

Death Angel captures that experience perfectly. There is a good deal of strategy and tactics involved. Further, there are lots of special units to choose from and the game has huge replay value. I certainly play better now than when I started. Still, the few times I've "won" it's been as much from some lucky breaks as from tactical skill. In other games that might be irritating, in Death Angel it's great fun. Add in several cheap expansion packs and a nice narrative quality and Death Angel has paid off its initial investment ten fold. I wish I could say the same about, say, Thunderstone. Or Dungeon Lords. Warhammer 40K. Or a few others....

Anyway, if you're looking for a great solitaire or group game that's fast paced, exciting, and unpredictable, Death Angel has a lot to recommend it.

War of the Rings Card Game- Still Fun

In the aftermath of our summer vacation I was left thinking about which games I've purchased that have actually gotten a lot of play. I'm as guilty as most gamers of accumulating vast piles of lead, rules, and boardgames that then sit sad and forlorn on the shelf waiting to be played or painted. This year the kids are off to school, however, so we are on a tight budget and I am trying to get the dusty stuff off the shelves and onto the table.


I picked up the Lord of the Rings Card Game a while back with high hopes. It's cooperative, the components are beautiful, and the theme is popular. When I played it at the game store it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the rules seem to have been written in one language and then translated across two more before making their way into English. As a result our first attempts to play at home were just demoralizing. I put it away and only took it out again for the vacation.

When the kids text "RTFM" to each other they are being wise indeed. When I took the time to really read the instructions and understand them much of the game fell into focus. We ended up playing several times and had a lot of fun. Much of what I said in my original review still holds true now. I think what strikes me in hindsight is how fun it is to come close to winning and then get crushed. It sounds silly but a challenging coop game where you Almost win is really a good time. The game drags you back for another go.

Save us Gandalf!

Further, the factions you can play in the game allow each player to find something they enjoy doing. My wife enjoys dealing out damage and slaying monsters. There's a faction for that. I like cheating fate and disrupting the plans of evil. There's a faction for that as well. The game allows and supports varied play style.

Finally, the game has a nice narrative quality. As you struggle to complete the quests you do feel like a story is being told. There are narrow escapes, epic battles, and through it all you wait for Gandalf to appear and pull your bottoms out of the fire! Which will happen, to everyone's relief.

The Lord of the Rings Card Game has absolutely held up over time. I recommend reading the rules a few times and struggling through a game or two. At that point I suspect you'll be hooked.

Apologies and Some Great Finds

Well it's been a while and I have to say I have no great excuse for not writing. So let's get started.

I was in Maine this Summer and stopped at a small local game store called Weekend Anime. I was happily surprised to find out that they stock a very respectable supply of board games and that they also sell used miniatures. I actually dragged the family there twice (both times in pouring rain btw) and ended up walking away with five shopping bags full of old minis. That was very exciting. I also found a first edition copy of Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader. More on that to come.

A vacation in Maine with sun, family, and five shopping bags of old miniatures is a good time indeed. I ended up eBay'ing a battalion of orks, some assorted fantasy characters, and wound up with a nice army for Warmachine. Total price after eBay- zero!  The wife was very impressed with my (in the end) thriftiness and I then took the kids to a ship museum for a trade in trade for dragging her to obscure game stores. Happy endings all around.

Kudos to Weekend Anime as well for being a terrific game store and housing a lot of nice product. Now I have to decide what to do with my Warmachine Pirate army.

Descent Second Edition - Worth a Crawl

A friend of mine was recently discussing dungeon exploring boardgames. Lacking the time for role playing he asked me what the best dungeon exploring game on the market was.  I replied "Dungeons and Dragons, first edition." The game world is full of dungeon exploring games, all of which try and capture the feeling of Dungeons and Dragons on a board. Ironically the best choice is old fashioned D&D itself, which is designed to be played on a tabletop with miniatures anyway. This doesn't stop the boardgamers from searching for Another option with which to simulate D&D without actually playing it.


Last week Triple Play Games in Lebanon hosted a Descent Second Edition preview event. Descent is an older game with several expansions. It allows players to move miniature adventurers around a board and search for treasure or battle monsters. Successful adventurers grow in ability and return for further adventures fighting even more menacing creatures. I had always been intrigued by Descent. The box is gigantic and the expansions add dozens of cool toy creatures and terrain tiles. The whole package is so full of Stuff it seems almost decadent. And in a sense truly decadent since it would be a big cash outlay just to approximate D&D, which I own and enjoy already.

I jumped at the chance to play second edition Descent and I have to say I had a terrific time. Each player had a character with some strengths and weaknesses. My character was somewhat magical and fast on her feet. Another was immensely strong and another had spells. In our games we had to make our ways across a game board and complete some mission, whether it was to get to a location, fight a creature, or rescue a hostage. Each mission was challenging but not impossible and the opponents and treasure were varied and interesting.

Descent had a few other nice features. The rules were simple, short, straightforward and well written. The game has obviously been playtested extensively and runs very smoothly. The missions are nicely varied. Each character had obvious strengths and over several games you do get the feeling that your hero is evolving and developing. Further, each character type has a chance to really shine. Finally, the components were all top quality.

Given the time and players with an interest I will always choose to play D&D. Barring that, Descent Second Edition is a lot of fun and really ideal for younger or beginner players. It has a steeper price tag but I think it's well worth it for what you get.

Eclipse- less filling, but the taste?

I have an abiding love for Twilight Imperium. This is an epic science fiction boardgame that takes a full day and many players to get through and comes in a box big enough for a small goat to fit in.

Hey, how do you know you live in New Hampshire? Goats and livestock are handy measuring devices.

Of course the awesomeness of Twilight is decreased slightly by the need for a full day of play and many players who can manage lots of rules and esoteric components. For that reason I'm seeing a lot of games appearing that try and capture the Twilight spirit but without the effort and time required. One example is Eclipse. In a game of Eclipse players take turns exploring the galaxy and developing their economies, their military, or their scientific infrastructure. New areas appear as hexagon shaped tiles with random assortments of planets on them. Players can take the roles of alien races and get benefits or drawbacks specific to those races. There's a strong role of alliances between players and knowing when to break an alliance and when not to. All of this has a feel very similar to Twilight.

In its favor you can learn Eclipse quickly and finish in an evening. The components are of nice quality but are far from intimidating. The economic system is challenging but not excessively complex and the technological developments are easy to learn. In our last game we had several players who were very excited by the game and felt it really scratched an itch.

Space Battle in Eclipse

I personally don't like Eclipse very much. For one, I feel like it functions primarily as a war game. There is little chance of winning without a powerful fleet and engaging in lots of battles. Obviously I'm pretty happy with war games but I like Twilight because of the multitude of victory conditions. Eclipse is about building up a fleet and then blasting your neighbors.

Now assuming you're in the mood for a space fleet game you will at least want a somewhat balanced game. This is Eclipse's other major drawback. The map of the galaxy is developed randomly. For this reason players may discover very valuable planets nearby or they may discover junk. Further, some areas may have alien artifacts which give huge ongoing bonuses. In our last game one player discovered vast tracts of empty space while another lucked into one after another system filled with resources. It's very challenging to develop resource-poor areas so your only option is to go on the offensive and at that point you're Space Greenland taking on Space Germany.


Finally, Eclipse retails for around a hundred dollars. In contrast Twilight Imperium sells for ninety. It's hard to justify spending More on a "lighter" version of a game, or to justify spending a hundred dollars on any game that isn't really amazing. But, if you're hankering for space empires and money is no object then certainly Eclipse has its share of fans.

Sardinia Takes the Field

The patriotic citizens of Sardinia have risen up to support their brethren in Fiume and assembled a small expeditionary force.

The Armies in Plastic Iron Brigade figures really serve a million uses and now they look vaguely like mountain troopers. Successful businesswoman and grown adult Lynne A. started these off and I wrapped them up. A basic rifle unit, with realistic colors. I'm not absolutely delighted with them because I think they veer more towards historic and away from eccentric and colorful. There may be a madcap leader on a horse coming just to spruce them up a bit.

"I am not a geek.."

On the other hand, these plastic figures are a real breeze to paint and a million times less stressful that my usual "realistic" projects. The kids end up playing with them, there's no lead, and the paint is cheap. My non-miniatures-gaming friends would never attempt to paint a Napoleonic hussar but have jumped right in to toy soldier painting, and their kids enjoy it as well. Now it just remains to be seen how the game itself plays out. If it's a bust then my children just get an early birthday present of dozens of toy soldiers and my wife sighs as the soldiers spill across the floor and all over the house. Still, it could be worse as fireworks are legal in this state and I've not followed through on threats of beginning home winemaking. A few toy soldiers may be the best of several taxing possibilities.

St. John's need Zouaves

Army Sea Blue needs some more troops and I really couldn't resist a unit of zouaves. What a marvelous historical hiccup they are! As I'm discovering the soldiers look just dreadful until they get their facial hair and gloss coats. Then they look very smart.

We have come for your maple syrup

Next on Sea Blue's agenda are more Rotisuldat and then the Roti themselves. After that I may have to throw in some mercenary hussars for color, or a naval brigade which makes a bit more sense considering the number of horses that St. John can support.