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BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia

BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia board game, based on the critically acclaimed BioShock Infinite video game, allows players to explore the world of BioShock Infinite–the atmosphere, the characters, the city of Columbia itself, and even contours of the game’s plot–from a tantalizing new perspective as the leaders of the Founders and Vox Populi factions.

Set during the same series of events as the video game, players take on the role of the Founders and Vox Populi factions, desperately seeking to seize control of Columbia. Gain points from staking your claim to the city’s territories and accomlishing other goals, all the while fighting your opponents and Booker while trying to influence Elizabeth and commanding an army of detailed miniatures as well as the Songbird and Airship!

In BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia, each player uses their unique deck of cards to influence world events, build their army, fight off Booker, zoom around the city on the Sky-Line, and claw their way to ultimate control of Columbia.

Impressions: The BioShock Infinite Board Game

Quinns: The board game of popular first personly shootems’ videogame BioShock Infinite arrives in stores this week. A lot of hype behind this one, since it’s from Plaid Hat Games, creators of such excellence as City of Remnants, Summoner Wars AND Mice & Mystics (which we still haven’t played).

I was able to give it a quick play earlier in the month, and today my impressions are up on Kotaku. IS IT GOOD? Click on through and find out!

“Is The Siege of Columbia another gritty, gory war game? Not in the slightest. In fact, I’d argue the board game’s biggest achievement is recognising and pursuing the rollercoaster tone of the video game. There’s some smart design to mull over, but it’s far outweighed by a schlocky desire to entertain.”

And if you’re hungry for more BioShock Infinite related writings, SU&SD’s own Leigh Alexander has written a definitive critique of the videogame right here.

Kotaku Article: Days of Wonder Interview

Quinns: Almost forgot about this! Board game publisher Days of Wonder last month declared that Ticket to Ride, their family train game, had overtaken Settlers of Catan in monthly sales. There’s a new biggest board game in town! I set up a phone interview to see what DoW do differently, then loaded it all into my monthly Kotaku column, slipping fact after fact into that hot gaming skillet.

“Part of our brand,” explains the sonorous French voice on the phone, “is coming from the fact we do very few things. Porsche is the most successful car company in the world from the business standpoint, but they do very few models… we take the same approach in the board game business.”

Founder Eric Hautemont also talked about vinyl records, the role of mobile devices in boardgaming and how his company works the exact opposite way from America’s other big publisher, Fantasy Flight. Really interesting stuff. Go read!

Quinns: Oh gods. I may have had too much to drink last night. It’s cool, though. As long as I remain perfectly still I’m pretty sure I can make it through the news without one of my internal organs making a brave attempt to escape my body.

Details are beginning to emerge regarding Keyflower: The Farmers (pictured above), which we haven’t covered, but which is an expansion to Keyflower! Which we also haven’t covered.

It might be a long week.

You are a team of adventurers – trapped in a cursed temple. Together you must activate the magic gems in the temple chambers in order to banish the curse.

Look out for one another. Some tasks can be accomplished only as a team – and you have only 10 minutes before the temple collapses!

Escape is a cooperative real-time game, that is not played in rounds. Instead, each player rolls as quickly and as often as he can with his five dice.

The dice determine your fate:

Discover the different temple chambers by rolling the correct dice combinations. Take care, though, because if you fall under the spell of the Black Mask, you‘ll need the help of the Golden Mask and your team-mates in order to keep moving!

Act together:

If several adventurers are together in one chamber, you‘ll activate more magic gems faster!

Two modules make Escape even more exciting: The modules “Curses” and “Treasures“ make gameplay even more varied. The treasures aid you whereas the curses make escape more difficult. After all, an adventurer who is unable to talk or who must roll his dice with one hand stuck on top of his head will have a tough time working with his team!

The 10-minute soundtrack enhances the exciting atmosphere of the temple adventure!

Escape: Illusions includes two new modules for the Escape base game that can be used individually or mixed with any other available modules.

The “Illusion Chambers” module consists of six chamber tiles that replace the tiles with only one magic gem in the basic game. After players return to the starting chamber during the game – something they must do twice in order to avoid losing a die – all illusion chambers in play are removed and returned to the bottom of the tile deck. Hopefully you already completed your business in any section of the temple now disconnected from the rest!

The “Special Chambers” module consists of six new chamber tiles, divided as follows:

Three linked chamber tiles that allow you to activate magic gems, thereby making it easier for the adventurers to escape the temple – but the gems can be activated only if players are in two separate such chambers at the same time.

Two double chamber tiles that consist of a front and back room, with access to the back room being available only if you add tiles to the temple and snake around to the back. Why do you want to reach this room? More opportunities to activate magic gems and ease your way out of the temple.

One treasure chamber tile, containing a chalice that adventurers must bear to the exit tile. If they fail to do so, they lose the game – even if they otherwise would all escape!

Components for a sixth player are included, as well as two copies each of one new curse card (“Soul Exchange”) and one new treasure tile (“Large Torch”).

Have you heard of Escape: The Curse of the Temple? Rumoured to be greatest family game of all time, they say it can be found in the Temple to the God of Luck, in the world’s most unfun jungle. Wait. No, hang on, that’s wrong. It’s in Quinns’ flat.

In this review, we answer the question of whether you should buy Escape, we take a look at the Illusions expansion, AND we compare the whole thing to Space Alert. Now, only one question remains: How did Quinns get so dirty?

Indianapolis is a city generally known for auto racing and being the birthplace of America’s first 20th-century outlaw. Every August, though, it hosts almost 50,000 people who care little for either of those things.

They come for the sweet aroma of freshly punched cardboard counters, for the textured heft of rank upon rank of miniature figures, for the piles of weird dice slimed with the cast-off condiments of terrible convention center food, and for the sight of dozens on dozens of costumed geeks, scantily clad and otherwise, who’ve traveled from all over the nation and beyond for an event that’s billed as “The Best Four Days in Gaming,” and which does in fact give tabletop gamers and steampunk airship captains alike a formidably long weekend on which to celebrate their passion and ours: tabletop games.

This is Gen Con. Its origins lost to the mists of time, the nearly half-century-old gaming party — for that’s what it is — is probably the largest annual gathering of tabletop gamers outside Germany’s Spiel. I arrived midday on Thursday, just as Day One was getting into full swing. The Indiana Convention Center is a massive place, and, as is the habit among Actual Journalists, I wandered into it unaided by map or signpost, following the flow of musky t-shirts into the first exhibit hall I could find. The simple elegance of what greeted me there felt both surprising and inevitable at once. Because what’s special about Gen Con is that it’s about the one thing most important to the cardboard arts: playing games.

Quinns: It was GenCon this weekend! The most sleep-deprived four days in gaming. Here’s hoping somebody spotted Mike, our tech guru, because the last message I got from him said he was going to try and carry this stack of review copies back to his hotel, followed by radio silence.

So, yeah, he might be dead, but on the bright side gloss-house Fantasy Flight had a ton of stuff to announce, causing the biggest stir with BattleLore 2nd edition, seen above. If you’re a regular reader you’ll probably have seen us review or play Memoir ’44, a phenomenal, approachable World War 2 strategy game. BattleLore is based on the same systems, but takes place in a colourful fantasy world. So, less horrors of war, more bipedal horrors who want to eat your face.

Matt’s only gone and looked at a new way to open your game night! Isn’t he an great? Holding his ground on the very frontlines of play like a big ol’ play… man.

This month he’s encouraging us to don the masks of the fabulous Mascarade by Bruno Faidutti, one of our favourite designers. This game is pretty. It’s funny. It’s simple. Most of it even occurs underneath the table. But most excitingly of all, Matt’s baking again! Today is a good day.

BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia

Impressions: The BioShock Infinite Board Game

Kotaku Article: Days of Wonder Interview

Games News! 26/08/13

Escape: The Curse of the Temple

Escape: Illusions

Review: Escape: The Curse of the Temple

Review: Gen Con 2013

Games News! 19/08/13

The Opener: Mascarade & Cheesy Twists

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