Store Tournament Report – Edmonton, Alberta area - 22 March 2014

Eight players showed up at Gamers Alley in Sherwood Park (just outside of Edmonton) to play in what might be the first Netrunner tournament in the area. Not sure why we are so slow in getting organized, as Calgary has had a few already. Hopefully this will be the start of a more active tournament scene.

This was not a store championship. Being that this was the first tournament in the area, we were a bit unsure if there would be enough interest. I think there was enough interest to warrant FFG prizes and perhaps store credit for our next event.

As there were no prizes, I decided to just play the maximum amount of matches, so the tournament was 4 rounds, no cut/elimination.

Identities

We had a bit of an unusual mix of identities. Shaper was most popular, representing half of all runners (2 Chaos Theory, 1 Kate and 1 Kit). Three players stuck with criminal, surprisingly all Gabe and one lone Noise. 

Android: Netrunner

I recently decided to get into the card game Android: Netrunner. Card games are popular at my FLGS, with Magic: The Gathering being the obvious choice. Anyone familiar with the collectible card game scene will know that M:TG is so popular that it has laid waste to all the other collectible card games, some with very popular IP's, that have tried to compete with it. For those not in the know, if you want to play some type of collectible or limited card game, if it is not Magic, it might be difficult to find other players. 

While I do play some Magic, (I have to, it is so popular) I don't like the way collectible card games are designed to milk the customer. Constant releases of cards, new decks every 3-4 months and the random nature of what cards you get make it more of a pay to win type of game.

Hegemonic Kickstarter Update #7

Here is the latest update from one of the games I am supporting on Kickstarter.

Yippy! We've made our next stretch goal of player aids added to the game! Thanks for the support. Now we need to push for the VERY important double-layered player boards to keep those damn tokens from sliding all over the place by mistake.

We're still waiting on the review videos but that should give this campaign a kick.

We are still projecting meeting at least 50K and maybe hitting plastic at 80K if everyone helps with the push.

While player aids are nice, I really hope they meet the $45K goal. I think the layered board is going to be the most handy stretch goal (although the plastic pieces and the locking board are also pretty neat).

If you are interested in Kickstarting Hegemonic there are only 18 days left.

Another Kickstarter - Battle for Souls

Here is another Kickstarter project I have been considering throwing my support behind: Battle for Souls.

It looks interesting and there are some game mechanics that I find interesting for my own projects.

Using Kickstarter

Lately I have been looking into Kickstarter. I am thinking about using it for a project I am working on, so I thought I would check it out first. 

I decided to support a few projects, both of which are board games. Games are one of my areas of interest and the subject of this blog, so it would be natural for me to look in that area. I did not find anything in the area of video games I was willing to support. 

The two boardgames I am supporting both look very complete and are, I think, a  safe bet to be published. I am a little more cautious about video games. Even a well known video game studio, at the peak of its popularity and with all the money in the world, can screw up a great franchise at the last minute (I am looking at you Bioware and Mass Effect 3). So I will be very cautious about supporting video games.

I will update the projects I am supporting on an irregular basis.

One is already completed but there is still time to support the other:

Tomorrow: an apocalyptic nightmare

Hegemonic

Check them out.

Session Report - Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients - First Play with Expansion

This 7 player game of Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients was played on 12 January 2013 and was our first play with the expansion, although every player had at least one game with the original. We used the simultaneous turn order and added a house rule of extending the game by one turn, making a total of ten turns. The players were:

Planta – Green

Orion – Black
Mech – White
Rho Indi Syndicate – Gray
Yellow – Draco
Eridani – Red
Exiles – Purple (Me)

The guy who bought the expansion originally put it on layaway last week because his wife said their budget could not afford it so soon after Christmas. As I predicted, he couldn't wait and took the hit with his wife, probably taking the money out of the kid's college fund or some other equally unimportant area, in order that we could enjoy this game. Needless to say, most of us were keen to give it a try.

We set up the board using the 9 player third ring, placing 2 of the new ancients to fill in the gaps of the two missing players. Starting with Planta and going clockwise around the board, the player order was as follows: Planta, Orion, Mech, Rho Indi, Exiles, Draco, Eridani.

Thunderstone Impressions – After one play

I had the opportunity to give Thunderstone a try the other day. Thunderstone is a deck building game similar in play to the most well known deck building game, Dominion. There is the similar game mechanic of buying cards and building your deck. Thunderstone is difference in that it has a fantasy theme, where players use their cards and heroes to go down into the dungeon and kill various monsters. Each monster is worth a certain number of points and the player with the most points when the Thunderstone is revealed is the winner. The artwork is good and the components of suitable quality, similar to Dominion.

A Few Good Boardgame Links

Here are a few interesting links all related to boardgames:

3 Player Eclipse Session Report - A nice report with pictures.

6 Player Battlestar Galactica Session Report from Japan

Tomorrow: An Apocalyptic Nightmare - A Kickstarter board game project

Moral Conflict 1941 - What Axis and Allies should have been?

Session Report - BSG Exodus - I Make A Big Mistake

This 6 player game was played on 1 September 2012. From the Pegasus Expansion we used Pegasus but did not use New Caprica. From the Exodus Expansion, we used the Conflicted Loyalties and the Cylon Pursuit board, but not the Ionian Nebula. We played without a Cylon Sympathizer.

The players, in turn order:

Cally - Mat

Tigh - Garrett

Baltar (President) - Justin

Tory - Me

Cain (Admiral) – Brendan

Boomer (CAG) - Charlie

I am not a Cylon.

Another game with a few new players. Perhaps an easy game for us humans to identify the Cylons since we have 2 of 6 players having an extra chance to be a Cylon.

Settlers of Catan - Impressions

When I first got back into board gaming, over a year ago, this was one of the first games I bought. Love it or hate it, Catan is one of the most well known board games of recent memory. I would even argue that Catan revived mainstream board gaming in the late 1990's and early 2000's similar to Trivial Pursuit in the 1980's.

That said, I was disappointed. I bought the game without trying it, and found it one dimensional. I like my games a bit more complicated, and Catan seemed too dependant on lucky die rolls.

However, yesterday at our FLGS gaming day, I got roped into trying it again, but this time with the Seafarers and the Cities & Knights expansions. I was pleasantly surprised.

My Strugggle with Twilight Struggle

Long long ago, back before the weight of the world crushed my spirit, I was an avid gamer. Back before BGG, before Magic, before the Internet, I played games regularly. But my gaming group grew up, went off to school and work, got married and had kids. I had given up on gaming, until about a year ago when I dusted off a game of Junta, got together a group and had a great time. I decided I would get back into gaming. I found a group starting up near my house, found BGG and reconnected with my hobby.

I spent a lot of time surfing BGG and marveling at the many new and innovative games. We had been limited to the Gamemaster Series and various role playing games. Since my golden years in the 1980's, there has been an explosion of new games.

I decided I would jump right back in, and after much research, I purchased Twilight Struggle. I am a bit of a Cold War buff, so the theme appealed to me, and the two player aspect of it might enable the wife and I to play.

I bought it from a local store and quickly opened it up, surprised at the high quality of the components (remember, I grew up on typical 1980's quality). I could not wait to give it a try and dove into the rule book.