Quinns: Morning everybody! It’s got to be morning where one of you is, right?
You can see our top story illustrated just up there: Board gamers’ arms are hairier than ever before. The problem is now reaching critical levels. Coincidentally, also pictured above is our second top story, which is that the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game arriving in stores globally is, apparently, a bit good.
Read More
This week Quinns looks at The Cave! A game about caves and the people who love them and sometimes get stuck in them. Which might sound rubbish, but did you ever consider that caves are basically nature’s dungeons?
We’re also very proud to present the segment that you lot have been begging for: Quinns’ Netrunner Tips!
Oh, and if anyone’s curious, the K2 review we talk about in the video lives right here. Enjoy, everybody!
Read More
Here I Stand: Wars of the Reformation 1517-1555 is the first game in over 25 years to cover the political and religious conflicts of early 16th Century Europe. Few realize that the greatest feats of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ignatius Loyola, Henry VIII, Charles V, Francis I, Suleiman the Magnificent, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernando Cortes, and Nicolaus Copernicus all fall within this narrow 40-year period of history. This game covers all the action of the period using a unique card-driven game system that models both the political and religious conflicts of the period on a single point-to-point map.
There are six main powers in the game, each with a unique path to victory :
The Ottomans
The Habsburgs
The English
The Valois Dynasty of France
The Papacy
The Protestants
Here I Stand is the first card-driven game to prominently feature secret deal-making. A true six-sided diplomatic struggle, the game places a heavy emphasis on successful alliance-building through negotiations that occur away from the table during the pre-turn Diplomacy Phase. Set during the period in which Niccolò Machiavelli published his masterpiece “The Prince,” backstabbing is always possible, especially because the card deck is loaded with event and response cards that can be played by any power to disrupt the plans of the powers in the lead.
Here I Stand integrates religion, politics, economics and diplomacy in a card-driven design. Games vary in length from 3-4 hours for a tournament scenario up to full campaign games that run about twice the time. Rules to play games with 3, 4, or 5 players are also included. The 3-player game is just as well balanced as the standard 6-player configuration, taking advantage of the natural alliances of the period.
Read More
Quinns: Matt? I need a second opinion on this beret. Hey, what’choo guys doing in this basement?
Thrower: INFIDEL! Remove that at ONCE! Can’t you see this is a Holy Place?
Quinns: I did wonder who all the menacingly hooded, chanting figures were.
Thrower: This is a shrine dedicated to the worship of the one true wargame mechanic: the card-driven game. And tonight, from our multitudinous pantheon, we are worshipping the many-headed and many-handed goddess. Mistress of lies and deceit, changer of the ways and the patron succubus of politicians: Here I Stand.
Read More
Village Inn, the first expansion for the award-winning game Village, adds two new buildings to the village: the brewery and the inn.
The brewery is a new craft building where you can acquire a new good: beer. In the inn you can meet a lot of influential people (in the form of cards), and you can acquire these villager cards by spending beer/coins and time. Each villager card has a unique ability that can be used once per game, giving either points and advantages during the game or additional points at the end of the game for certain achievements.
In addition, Village Inn includes all necessary components for a fifth player.
Read More
Once we heard about all the love and awards Village was earning we just had to dispatch Paul and Quinns, SU&SD’s softest city boys, to take a look. This one’s a true simulation the simple life, perfect for anybody who wants to breed horses, dedicate themselves to the church or murder their relatives when nobody’s looking.
Village has an expansion, Village Inn, but Quinns has been a very good boy and not bought it. …Right, Quinns?
Oh, and if you don’t recognise that intro, go and acquire all 17 episodes of The Prisoner immediately. You can thank us later.
Read More
[Following the tremendous success of Lord Smingleigh’s inaugral column on the nature of play, we invited gaming’s most storied gentleman to stick around! And then culled “The Ludological Investigation Society” as a title because it broke our headline box. Nobody tell him. I’m serious. He won’t shut up about it.]
It is a fact universally acknowledged that all board games are perfect. Who are we to stick our fallible thumbs in the board game pie? We have come for the experience the chef has planned through years of experience and talent, not the thrown-together improvisations of short-order cooks.
Except, no. This view is to disregard the most vital of components in board gaming: Humans. Sometimes it is necessary to change the game to suit the players. It is my honour to present to you an excerpt from an early draft of my life’s work and legacy: A Treatise on the Taxonomy of House Rules.
Read More
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.
Read More
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!
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.
Read More
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.
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!
Read More