Quinns’ Top 3 Games of 2013

Quinns' Top 3 Games of 2013

Quinns: At the end of last year Kotaku asked me for my top table games of the year, and I pulled this article from my bottom with the grace of a magician plucking a dove from his jacket. It starts like this…

As I’ve talked about before, board games aren’t simply enjoying a resurgence right now. They’re in a glittering golden age with fabulous releases every single week, the entire hobby evolving and adapting with Borg-like ease. There’s no easier way to prove it than with my favourite releases from 2013.

Included on this list are a real-time Star Trek simulator, a uniquely dark game of managing a sunny colony, and a card game… with just 15 cards. But each one of these is a classic.

And proceeds to list my three favourite releases from 2013, plus one runner up. Does that sound like something that might interest you guys? If so, please, go read!

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Quinns is on the Terminal7 podcast!

Quinns is on the Terminal7 podcast!

Quinns: NETRUNNER! Either you’re like me and adore Fantasy Flight’s impeccable cyberpunk card game, or you’re like my colleagues here at SU&SD and wish I’d shut up about it.

So it should please everybody to know I’ve taken my breathless fanboyism elsewhere, in an hour-long guest appearance on episode five of the excellent Terminal7 Netrunner podcast, chatting about shapers, bioroids, hellions, and all kinds of other things that literally might make sense to you!

In all seriousness, if you’re still on the fence about Netrunner after my review, listening to Terminal7 might just push you over the edge. Hosts Nels Anderson and Jesse Turner craft the exact cocktail of humour, frustration, style and spirit that Netrunner deserves, and I’m always impatient for the next episode. It was a real treat to be involved.

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Review: Cutthroat Caverns

Review: Cutthroat Caverns

Would you like to come on an ADVENTURE? Get some treasure, some glory, back home in time for tea?

So you’ll come? …What’s that? Oh, nowhere special. Just the Cutthroat Caverns. No! Come back! It’s only a name!

What about you, dear reader? Will you join us? If you’re brave enough, you’ll see there’s an awful lot of fun to be had in those dingy, treacherous caverns. Assuming you’re just a bit of a jerk.

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Review: Netrunner – Creation and Control

Review: Netrunner - Creation and Control

Quinns: It’s no secret that we think Android: Netrunner is the collectible game right now. When I started playing it, I was seduced by the asymmetrical concept- one player as the glittering corporation, the other as a tiny hacker with cards as mundane as energy drinks and quality time with your partner. Since then, it’s the comedic tension of the game that’s kept me involved. Each new datapack of cards is filled not just with possibility, but comedy. I laugh as I leaf through these things. “Oh no,” I whisper, grinning. “Oh, no.

So you can imagine how excited I was yesterday! The release of the first “deluxe” expansion, Creation and Control, containing 3 copies each of 55 new cards. The same evening I ended up taking two sets to the safehouse of my Netrunner nemesis for a good debugging. Here’s what we found out.

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Games News! 22/07/13

Blocky Mountains

Quinns: Have you heard? Kate Middleton’s Royal Baby™ arrives today! Time to get the news done sharpish so I can attend the ceremony of Gilded Silver where we find out if it’s a changeling.

Fantasy Flight have published the most audacious preview yet of Netrunner’s first deluxe expansion, Creation and Control. The 55 new cards are going to slip into our decks as professionally and powerfully as acupuncture needles, making us fitter. Stronger. Deadlier. Or possibly it’ll just cost a bunch of money and we’ll feel exactly the same, except we’ll get really bad gas, which happened to my friend Alex. When he tried acupuncture, that is. Not when he played Netrunner.

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Games News! 17/06/13

Rockwell

Quinns: IT’S HERE. Actually literally drop everything. Wok Star, the co-operative, real time game of running a Chinese fast food kitchen is now on Kickstarter. I heard about this game two years ago, and a reprint containing such dramatic extras as “Fridge Failure cards” and an electronic timer (instead of a sand timer) is finally upon us.

Just imagine. You and another 1 to 3 of your friends rolling dice together, racing to complete recipes against the clock. Spending money between “days” to buy new recipes. Arguing as Paul fails to collect enough tips. Again. If you have a friend called Paul.

“Warning,” the Kickstarter quips. “Wok Star may well result in high fives.” Well, that’s me sold. You’d better believe we’ll be bringing you the earliest possible review.

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Review: Netrunner

Review: Netrunner

Quinns: Finally, after six months of waiting and countless allusions on the podcast,
Android: Netrunner is back in stock and OUR REVIEW IS HERE. Click here to head over to the mighty Eurogamer.

Oh, and what a surprise! It’s the best collectible card game we’ve ever played.

“Here’s a game defined by inescapable tension. Playing as either side, you’re always able to make grim estimates of how far you are from victory, while the other player could win at any point. Worse, even the most lovingly crafted deck will often feel like a second antagonist. Both sides need programs, yes, and events and resources, but you’ll need money for all of those, and so sitting down to play Netrunner absolutely feels like you’ve taken a seat under a sword of Damocles that you’ve fastened there yourself.”

Oooh, yes. We like this one. Go read!

I’m actually playing in a Netrunner tournament with some friends this Sunday. We’ve all agreed not to look online for tips, but I wonder if we had anyone keen to give me NBN tips in the audience… ?

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The Very Sixth SU&SD Podcast

The Very Sixth SU&SD Podcast

Oh, no. Having survived month one of the new site, the boys are trying to make their podcast more professional. The result? A regular feature they can’t decide on, musical stings they’re wielding like cattle prods, and a special guest! Of Brendan. On the plus side, we’re serving up HOT CHATTER about so many new … Read more

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Kotaku Article: The Magic Touch

Kotaku Article: The Magic Touch

Quinns’ latest Kotaku column is up! Our boy’s talking about the joy of games-as-physical-objects, with nods to Netrunner, Tzolk’in, Memoir ’44, String Railway and SO much more. Look at him go!

“Last weekend we played the epic WW2 swear-a-thon that is Memoir ’44: Overlord, but my friend also brought two backpacks of his girlfriend’s military equipment. We played wearing wobbly helmets and camo trousers of impossible size. Why? Because it was funny, mostly, but also because when you augment a game’s components to such a ridiculous extent, you can’t help but share something, and remember that game for the rest of your lives.”

Has anyone else noticed that there’s a power to this hobby? Quinns has, and he won’t rest until he knows what he’s talking about. Go read, people!

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