Podcast #19: The Watercast

leaky pistols, sodden panic, terrible guilt, hiding in bins

In June, Paul, Leigh and Quinns took part in a month-long, city-wide, entirely ludicrous watergun assassination game. In podcast #19 they cast off their disguises, holster their leaky weapons and assemble for the official SU&SD review. A downloadable .pdf of Killer by Steve Jackson is available right here, the official Streetwars site is here and … Read more

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Leigh’s Month as an Assassin

For the month of June 2014, Leigh played a deadly femme fatale in a month long watergun assassination game. This is her story of stalking her prey, shivering in bushes and battling the most dangerous enemy of all. GUILT. A companion podcast where Leigh, Paul and Quinns review the game itself is just over here, … Read more

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Games News! 04/08/14

sudden rainstorms, romantic encounters, sweep the board game off the table, dungeons
Dungeons & Dragons

Quinns: Hello, everybody! How are we all? I spent my morning sweating my way around the warren of central London with all the purpose and grace of a Hex Bug, visiting five shops with nothing to show for my brave capitalist efforts. And now there’s not much news on the internet, either! What a day.

We’ll start with the reveal of the above image, which is the box contents for undersea power struggle Abyss. This game looked exquisite before I knew that it included pearls as a currency, or that the stunning cover is only one of five different boxes. I love what the publishers are doing here so, so much. If this design was any more arresting I’d be in fish prison.

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Paul’s Roleplay Design Diary! Part 3

totally mental stats, slicing the chili, dextrose the wizard
Paul's Roleplay Design Diary! Part 3

Paul: Hello! Welcome! I am so, so sorry to have kept you waiting. Come in! Take off your shoes! That’s it, though, don’t take anything else off.

My last RPG Design Diary was ages back now and, I have to admit, I completely underestimated the time it would take for me to put something functional together for you to look at, to even start to play around with. Nevertheless, I said that I would and I was determined that I would. I didn’t so much put my nose to the grindstone as headbutt that grindstone, but still, that’s how progress is made.

As you probably know, we took the advice that several readers gave us and we decided that, yes, actually, we would start playing some of the new Star Wars RPG, thanksverymuch. I spent a lot of time thinking about dice. I spent a lot of time thinking about stats. I might have something to show you all.

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That’s all for this week!

matt's dead baby, comma, matt's dead, true brendan, the quinns fix
That's all for this week!

Paul: No video today, as this week we were assembling 2200 of our Season 3 Gold Club bags! Also Matt had some kind of disease and may now be dead(?).*

Quinns: Next week will be a stomper, though, with coverage of Street Wars, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective AND Nations. Then the week after that our entire team will be reporting from Gen Con ’14 and trying to blag our way into the sold-out True Dungeon! Actually, if any of you guys have a spare ticket and want to let Brendan fulfill his destiny by becoming an actual bard, please email the address at the bottom of the site.

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Amazing Star Wars Adventures! Pt. 2

bounty huntings, beetle's horrible rivet gun, we have a hostage?

It’s part 2 of our entirely amazing Star Wars adventures! In this session our team of heroes arrive at a space station, kill an orc (kind of), succeed at crime (mostly) and (almost) begin working as a team. I’m calling it now. There is no way this ends well. If you missed part 1 we … Read more

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Amazing Star Wars Adventures! Pt. 2

bounty huntings, beetle's horrible rivet gun, we have a hostage?
Amazing Star Wars Adventures! Pt. 2

Now LIVE in our podcast section is part 2 of our entirely amazing Star Wars adventures! In this session our team of heroes arrive at a space station, kill an orc (kind of), succeed at crime (mostly) and (almost) begin working as a team. I’m calling it now. There is no way this ends well.

If you missed part 1, we should stress that we haven’t retreated into a child-like fantasy world and are in fact playing the new Star Wars RPG. Newcomers will definitely want to check out part 1 where our story begins.

The dramatic caper of the Crap Plastic Artifact will conclude next week!

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Games News! 28/07/14

the ultimate resistance of the octopi against the terrible trains of the rising sun
AquaSphere

Quinns: Morning, everyone! How was your weekend? I woke up today with my friend Olly sprawled across my sofa after some hot, late-nite Pictomania. Such a tragedy that that game didn’t sell! It’s Vlaada Chvátil’s secret best work. If you ever see a copy in the wild, pounce on it instantly and without doubt, like a tiger upon a juicy gazelle.

Oh man, I’m going to get some juice. Be right back.

Our first story is that well-respected 2009 release Hansa Teutonica (seen above) is receiving a reprint this year as well as an expansion, Hansa Teutonica: Britannia, adding an optional new board to play on and revised 2 player rules.

I’ve never played it, but I can tell you that the fancy Latin name isn’t hiding much in the way of theme. Hansa Teutonica is a game about building offices and trading routes in the middle ages, immediately putting me in mind of the comedic-sounding yet actually pretty great Thurn & Taxis. A game where players run a 17th century German postal service. I know! Just like you always dreamed.

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Review: Lords of Vegas

gambling, sin, criminal enterprise, raspberry vodka, return of the shirt
Review: Lords of Vegas

We’ve got a rare trio of reviews for you today! Paul and Quinns pop their collective collars to examine the bright dice and the big cities of Lords of Vegas, Las Vegas and Roll For It!. One of which they’re wholeheartedly recommending, and the other two they’re being very mean to.

Phew! The boys’ living room hasn’t seen this much sin since they ordered extra-cheese pizza back in ’09. They couldn’t finish the thing and had to throw half of it away! Ah, to be young again.

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Review: Russian Railroads

buckets of maths, fearsome engines, delicious scotch eggs
Review: Russian Railroads

Quinns: At the end of last year the rumbling around Russian Railroads became unignorable. Once a day I’d notice my mug of tea trembling as this game’s engine sped across the internet with a roar of hype. I decided to let it pass, though, knowing that if the rumours were true then this train, then progress itself would soon arrive at my sleepy flat.

Sure enough, Z-Man Games recently sent it over. Russian Railroads is a proud, barrel-chested member of a category called “Hard Euros”, and while that sounds like a DVD you’d find in the bargain bin of a sex shop* these are among the least sexy of games. Rather than forcing players to battle directly (which is RUDE), Eurogames offer a proxy-puzzle for players to simultaneously sweat over.

You might remember our review of T’Zolkin: The Mayan Calendar, with its dizzying, rotating gears, or our awe at the piglet maths of Castles of Burgundy, or our more recent video reviews of Caverna or Terra Mystica, each one an impressive eurogame. Today the industry is choked with these hale, rubust puzzles. Stepping inside the creaky carriage of Russian Railroads I had one question lurking at the bottom of my brain like cerebral sediment. “This game’s going to be clever and all, but do we need it?”

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