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Necromunda: Underhive

Deep below the nightmarish, polluted hive cities of Necromunda, in the twisted, dark tunnels of the Underhives, rival gangs fight to the bitter end for personal power, survival and the honour of their Houses.

Designed for 2 players, this is a game of tactics, skill and absolute ruthlessness, set on the iconic hive world of Necromunda. Players choose 1 of the 2 included gangs in the box, and fight brutal skirmishes on the game board using everything at their disposal – ducking behind barricades to survive withering hails of gunfire before popping up and shooting back, placing and overriding traps, using the decrepit, crumbling corridors of the Underhives to unleash precise strikes before scurrying back into the dark. Survival in the Underhives is a difficult and desperate business, where violence is often the only option.

Quinns: Good morning everyone! I’m back from a holiday in India where I watched a lot of Kabaddi, ate a lot of dosas and explored a little bit of ancient Hampi.

Ack, I’ve only been back at my desk for a few minutes and I’m already playing havoc with the Games News brand. Not one of those links takes you to a rousing piece of honest-to-betsy board game news. Please, let me start your week with some links that do.

As always I like to give the top story to the game with the prettiest header image, and this week that means the glossy Kickstarter of “Ridley Scott’s Alien but Don’t Tell His Lawyers” board game Nemesis. As any Shut Up & Sit Down reader will know, you’ll struggle to find a Kickstarter curmudgeon that ol’ Quintinius P. Smith, but Nemesis’ campaign is so assured, so dramatic and so generous that even I found my mouse finger twitching towards the “Back this Project” button.

Last year we transported our bodies to Bristol for a day of filming with Mark Hulmes – a Dungeon Master extraordinaire who specializes in creating high-grade fun within the realms of Dungeons & Dragons. Be aware that whilst we’ve snipped out the swearing, the series does contain infrequent graphic descriptions of violence.

Legacy of Dragonholt is the first narrative adventure game set in the Rune bound universe. This game’s rich story turns one to six players into bold heroes and takes them to the edge of Terrinoth where a mysterious death has occurred. Players have the opportunity to design their heroes and then journey to the far reaches of the realm where they will attend grand balls, battle goblins, and end the reign of an evil count who threatens to usurp the rightful heir of Dragonholt.

Matt and Paul regroup for a post-festive ramble through the wilderness of sentient cardboard. Paul shares some thoughts on Legacy of Dragonholt and Celestia – which Matt is comedically unable to recall too clearly. Meanwhile, Matt has been toying with the free co-op app for Imperial Assault – and compares his experiences with this to the recently-reviewed Gloomhaven, for your pleasure / horror. We then talk a little about the shocking phenomenon of fake board games, as covered by Paul in this week’s news, and finally cap off the first pod of the year by addressing the hard-hitting issue of S.N.A.C.K.S. Basically, Paul is mildly interrogated about cookies. Who – in truth – is the real cookie monster? Only the cold hands of time will decide. Thanks for listening!

Paul: Happy New Year, one and all! As I turn the lights back on at Shut Up & Sit Down, stoke the boilers and put the hamsters back on the treadmills, I watch our site slowly coming back to life. The gears turn, the pistons thrust and the Supercomputer blinks back into a state of self-awareness, giving for just one nanosecond a familiar scream that signals the eternal understanding that it will be forever trapped inside its painful, wretched metal body.

I hope your 2018 has started well! The news has been piling up in drifts, so I’ve scooped out some of my favourite bits. Feel free to leave any more stories you are particularly excited by in the comments below!

Quinns: Hello everyone! Shut Up & Sit Down will return on January 15th. In the meantime, continuing on from our roundups of our favourite features from 2014 and 2015, here’s a hefty list of our very best work from 2016 and 2017. You know the phrase “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”? … Read more

Who’s feeling cosy? In this final, festive podcast of 2017 Matt and Quinns tuck themselves beneath the Christmas tree before cutting it down for victory points. That was an oblique reference to the first game the pair discuss, the noble Photosynthesis. The boys then get far too excited about cubes and the possibilities thereof in the absurd game Sidereal Confluence: Trading and Negotiation in the Elysian Quadrant. They then discuss Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire, the new Games Workshop board game showcasing beefy people hitting one another with hammers. Finally, we read out a heartwarming love letter to the Play By Forum section of the SU&SD forum, and read out our last ever Folk Game of the Month, with a little discussion about depictions of mental health in fiction. Best wishes to everyone who has trouble at this time of year.

Update: If you donated after the 21st deadline drop us a note and we’ll hook you up anyway (it’s Christmas after all)!

Quinns: Hi everyone! I’ve come down with a festive Christmas flu, but I found a block in my busy schedule of sneezing and fingering spicy soup between my lips to post about our 2017 pledge drive, which ends this Thursday. Donating any time between now and then will get you access to a profoundly jolly Christmas newsletter, packed full of the following:

Have your say on our plans for 2018!
Early thoughts on our next reviews!
An outtake reel!
Access to all previous newsletters, totalling 20,000 words!
A warm fuzzy feeling that next year’s content is paid for by you!
And more!!

The last day for donations is the 21st of December, and the newsletter itself will go out on the 22nd.

Please donate! This weekend I played my first game of Dropzone Commander and now in addition to everything mentioned in our pledge drive video I also need a United Colonial Marines AC2 “Phoenix” class Heavy Command Gunship.

Thanks for your time, everybody!

Necromunda: Underhive

Games News! 22/01/18

Dungeons and Dragons with Mark Hulmes

Dungeons and Dragons with Mark Hulmes

Legacy of Dragonholt

Podcast #71: The Dragonholt Assault on Fake Eggs

Games News! 15/01/18

…And that was it for 2017… and 2016!

Podcast #70: Trading Shady Trees

Last donations on Dec 21st!

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