CWF Game Cast

For the past 22 years the TotalCon has been providing gaming fun for New Englanders. All the major games, past and present, have made appearances at TotalCon to the delight of thousands of gamers. 40k, WFB, Warmachine, Dungeons & Dragons, Hordes, Confrontation, Starship Troopers, B5: A Call to Arms, all the clix games from Heroclix on and the CCG/TMGs from Magic and Yu-gi-oh to Axis & Allies Minis and SW Minis.

If you’re in the gaming field and you are in New England you go to TotalCon. It is simple as that and this year will be the 22nd consecutive year of its running. There will be a lot happening at TotalCon with a many reasons why you should go. The tourney will take place Thursday February 21, 2008 and end on Sunday February 24th. There’s a lot of registration options available to people but admittance tickets start at $30 for all weekend (Adults), $15 all weekend (Youth), or you can buy a ticket for a single day. Thursday and Sunday is $5 (Adults) and $2.50 (Youth) with Friday and Saturday costing $10 (Adult) and $5 (Youth). We have made the Registration Form available for all of you to download and use. It is a PDF so you need Preview (Mac) or Acrobat Reader to view it. Both of those programs are available for free.

There’s a lot of events to register for and naturally those cost extra. The spotlight event is a 1850pt 40k Last Man Standing tournament on Saturday. It is back to back 6 rounds with RTT rules, pop quizzes, judges can mess with your minds…intense battle for bragging rights and large prize! A $20 registration fee covers all of that for the all day and into the night tournament.

There will be over 220 other events, games, and tournies at the con spread over the four days in Mansfield. You can get more information by going to the Total Confusion website, calling 603-644-0437, or e-mailing TRUTHFROMCHAOS [at] totalcon [dot] com.

written by ^Raven^

Tags

40k, Board/Card Games, CCG/CMG, Events.

Yesterday something drastic happened that has caused there to be no podcast today. My brand new iMac needs to be in the shop. Somehow, a disc is stuck in the optical drive and requires some love and attention from the kind people at the Apple store.

Only a few weeks ago the podcast had come back from its lengthy hiatus and I promise that today’s absence will not oft be repeated. I’ve searched high and low for another machine to podcast on to no avail. I know missing a week is a pain but to make up for it I have compiled a list of things you can do in the time you would have spent on listening to today’s podcast.

1. Play World of Warcraft. I have become addicted to this game as a result of the free trial I got for my Mac. I’ve tried the trial on my XP too but I honestly believe the game plays better, much better, on the Mac. I never thought I’d say a game plays, never mind plays better, on Mac but here it is.
2. Read/Re-Read the January ‘08 White Dwarf and the new No Quarter. White Dwarf has great coverage of the new Space Orks, yes I still call them Space Orks, and a kickass batrep. If you’re not sure what parts to read then glance at our Quick Picks and see what’s Inside White Dwarf. That’ll help you find your way.
3. Try a new game. There’s loads of new games out there to play. Some are good and some not so much. Give Sitting Ducks a shot, or make a wacky machine with Infernal Contraption. Why not see what board games out there fancy you?
4. Visit your FLGS. After the holidays you may still have some extra $$. Head over to your FLGS, pick up that shiny box you’ve been wanting. Or, just get a game in. Maybe some 40k or Warmachine, perhaps a little Fantasy or Hordes. There’s LotR and Confrontation and AT-43 too. Maybe you’d like to do a Yu-gi-oh duel or lay the smack down in Magic.
5. Paint your models. This is always on the back burner for me but sometimes finding the time to do this is the hardest part. You now have 30 minutes so get painting.
6. Catch up on the articles here at the CWF Game Cast. January has seen lots of vid articles. Sit back, relax, and watch what’s new.

Once again I apologize for not having a podcast for you today. Once my Mac comes home everything will be back to normal. Thank you for your patience and understanding and as always keep on gaming!

written by ^Raven^

Tags

Board/Card Games, Computer/Video Games, LotR, No Quarter Magazine, Podcasts, white dwarf 336, White Dwarf Magazine.

We’ve long been a supporter of the local gaming scene. This is evidenced by our publicity for Danger Planet in Waltham and Battleground Games in Abington along with the recent inclusion of Griffon Games in Greenfield.

The other day at Battleground I heard talk about one of the regulars starting a gaming company. With some research I came across Imperium Star Games, the brainchild of Adam McLaughlin. He has a lot of drive and we’re more than happy to do our part in helping Adam succeed with his dream.

Imperium Star Games (ISG for short) is a nice company. Right now they’re looking for an artist (e-mail Artwork [at] imperiumstargames [dot] com) to create the artwork for their first game titled The Joust. According to the official ISG site The Joust is “a game of jousting knights.” Players get to “take on the role of a knight in the Tournament of the King, Jousting to win the purse, the girls and mostly the Honor of being Tournament Champion.”

The Medieval Ages is great era for gaming, just look at the success of Dungeons & Dragons, and knights and jousting are a time honored entity that always attracts attention. Anyone who has ever been to King Richard’s Faire knows the excitement of jousting.

In conversation with Adam I learned that a mid-summer ‘08 release is expected for the game. There’s still lots to do but this devotion to detail is a positive sign. Too often gaming companies will rush product to the shelves that is inferior. ISG is making sure to put its best foot forward with The Joust.

To help bring The Joust into production ISG has made the classic t-shirt (at left) available for pre-order. Priced at just $15, I’ve paid more for band shirts from the mall, the shirt is a slimming black with the ISG logo in green. Black looks good on everyone and as one gamer speaking from experience we, gamers, tend to be under or overweight and black makes us look nice. The logo is pretty awesome too. Pre-order your shirts now at ISG Pre-Order T-shirts. All the details are there and yes ISG takes the usual cash, check, money order, and Paypal.

I know Adam appreciates all interest in ISG. Be sure to go to the ISG Contact Page to send them an e-mail. You can also hang out at the official Message Board. Adam hangs at Battleground Games in Abington usually on Sundays. Be sure to pop in, buy some product from Derek, and talk to Adam about ISG. Make sure you tell him that the CWF Game Cast sent you.

We look forward to sharing more news about ISG with you in the future. Don’t be surprised if Adam himself makes an appearance here on the CWF Game Cast. And, don’t forget to pre-order those shirts!

written by ^Raven^

Tags

Board/Card Games, Imperium Star Games, People, The Joust.

Many moons ago, back in May and June 07, I discussed the future of gaming in 3 articles (see Games Workshop New Store & The Future of Gaming, Addendum: The Future of Gaming 2, and GW Store Closing, Patents, and The Future of Gaming 3) inspired by Ryan S. Dancey’s blog.

Now, Mr. Dancey, has done it again with one of his predictions coming true or so he says in his article Followup: Game Industry Predictions III. He originally predicted that either Hasbro or Mattel would purchase “…a hobby gaming company, likely a trading card game publisher…” by the end of 2007. Mattel recently bought Apple to Apple, by Out of Box games, along with some other games. Mr. Dancey uses that as proof that his prediction is correct.

So far so good, right? Wrong, or at least partially. He predicted it was likely that Mattel or Hasbro would buy a trading card game publisher. Upper Deck (Yu-Gi-Oh and World of Warcraft) is a prime example of this. Instead, Mattel bought a few games by Out of Box. They didn’t even acquire the entire company.

I know even Nostradamus had his off days and that Mr. Dancey predicted a “hobby gaming company” with a concentration on trading card games. BUT, Mattel not only didn’t buy a trading card game company they didn’t even buy a hobby gaming company. They acquired a few games and that’s it.

Mr. Dancey I have to say that so far this prediction is untrue. If Mattel buys all of Out of Box I’ll grudgingly give you a correct prediction. Even though Out of Box isn’t a trading card company it is still a hobby gaming company.

There’s no denying that Mattel buying Apple to Apple is news but that doesn’t equate your prediction coming to fruition. I think a more appropriate title for your blog article would have been, “Followup: Game Industry Predictions III…Sorta, if you squint and tilt your head sideways.”

written by ^Raven^

Tags

apples to apples, Board/Card Games, mattel, People.

If you’ve ever played Carcassonne you know it to be a strategy game filled with hours of fun, intrigue, and recreation of medieval Europe. The base game is great and even includes the Rivers expansion, which makes your endeavor to build large cities, create the longest road, and own the largest farm that much more difficult.

King & Scouts, on the other hand, adds a new level of gameplay and fun with 12 new tiles. There are 7 tiles for the core game and 5 to use with Hunters & Gatherers. We’ll leave those 5 tiles from Scouts for another time after we’ve actually played with Hunters & Gatherers.

The 7 tiles for King are very useful. 5 of them are played in the game and have part of a city on them. They may have a monastery or even roads too. The tile with 2 cities connected by an overpass bridge is by far the most interesting. It counts as just one tile in a city but can help you to build one of the largest cities you’ve ever seen.

Added to this mix of city tiles we have the King and the Robber Baron. These add that extra level of gameplay. The first player to create a city, placing the last tile to complete the 1st city, gets the King card. If a different player completes a larger city that player gets the King card. End of the game grants the player with the King card 1 point for EVERY completed city in the game. This can add up fast and although it won’t replace the monumental sums you can accrue for farming it can help the urban planner.

The Robber Baron works exactly like the King…almost. Whatever player has the longest road gets the Robber Baron card. If a different player completes a longer road he/she gets the Robber Baron card. End of the game provides 1 point for each completed road to the player with the Robber Baron card.

I tend to lose out on the battle of urban planning but road construction is my game. In a close game having the Robber Baron can be enough to put you in the lead for the win.

Neither card, or the 5 playable urban tiles, are the Ace up the sleeve. Players still need to balance their gameplay and rely on what has worked for them in the past. But, the addition of King makes Carcassonne more suspensful and exciting than ever before.

If you haven’t played Carcassonne before I highly recommend you give it a try. I’m sure your FLGS has an open copy you can use. Or, you can always make the trip to Battleground Games in Abington where I game on most Monday and Wednesday evenings.

written by ^Raven^

Tags

Board/Card Games, Carcassonne.