Polyhedral Underground - Wisconsin Gaming Group • Portal

July - 2010

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Sleep is a major disadvantage to any creature. ~ RPG Wisdom

Welcome to Polyhedral Underground!

For those of you new to our little group of geeks, we are a hobby board game group located in Winnebago county in east central Wisconsin, with many interests. If you're here that means that some of them are your interests too. Board games, computer games, rpg, miniatures, sci-fi, fantasy, and probably other such things. Even with all our interests board gaming remains primary for us.

We always like having new players around so introduce yourself on the forums and get comfortable. And if you find that we're your type of gamers, well, invite yourself to a game night or day that we frequently have.

So take a look around and let us know what you think.

And welcome again to: Polyhedral Underground!

Recent Event Postings

Game-a-thons listed for rest of the year.

Poster:

Seripmav
Forum: Gameapaloozas / All Day Events

Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:16 pm

See you there. I hope to show around 10 and stay until about 4 or 5.

Comments: 6 • Post a reply • Views: 83

July 29 EAA Game Night?

Poster:

atom
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Thu Jul 22, 2010 2:15 pm

Harbinger wrote:

Atom, how can I procure two passes?

PM'd

Comments: 4 • Post a reply • Views: 62

Thur. July 22nd-Holy Crap! July 22nd Already! Game Night

Poster:

Guardtroll
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Tue Jul 20, 2010 8:40 am

I am forced to wait. I'll be down there next week at the store anyway.

Thanks for the offer!

Comments: 22 • Post a reply • Views: 118

Thur 7-15 Diceless Fairy Aerial Combat Games- Game Night

Poster:

ratpfink
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Mon Jul 12, 2010 9:06 am

Yeah that just offsets the -5 I'm giving him.

Comments: 28 • Post a reply • Views: 205

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<![CDATA[Introduction: The Pathfinder Experiment
Greetings, this is Caesar Slaad (known in various other parts of teh intarwebs as Sangrolu or Psion; known in meatspace as Alan). I’m a guest poster at The Gamer Dome. Propagandroid saw my idea for a little project on one of the forums we both haunt, and invited me to share it [...]]]>

The Pathfinder Experiment, Report #1: Tide of Evil

<![CDATA[Reporting from George R.R. Martin’s blog, he’s got the identities of seven new cast members. Some of them great, experienced actors, others virtually unknown. But, they are some *big* parts and it’s making it seem more and more real to have them cast. So, on to the castings:
Ser Jaime Lannister is…Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Sappy tribute video [...]]]>

Seven new parts cast for HBO’s A Game of Thrones

<![CDATA[I’m honored to host a series of guest posts by famed RPG reviewer and excellent gamemaster, Caesar Slaad. He’s going to be testing out some of the claims made around the Web that the Pathfinder RPG isn’t as compatible with 3.5 Dungeons & Dragons as it purports to be. Here’s what he has to say:
So [...]]]>

Pathfinder RPG guest posts

<![CDATA[The ENnies featured some entertainment this year: sketch comedy performed by the Polyhedrals. Audience reaction seemed quite positive to the sketch, and now a video (not of great quality, sadly) of the sketch can be seen on YouTube. The sketch was called the Four Greyhawksmen, and was based on an old performance by some of [...]]]>

The Polyhedrals perform sketch comedy at the ENnies

<![CDATA[If you haven’t seen this on the front page of RPG Now recently, I’d like to alert any of you who are interested in ordering the Midnight Chronicles film. You can get a download version along with a lot of extra goodies for $14.95 if you pre-order it before August 13th. Here’s the word from [...]]]>

Midnight Chronicles film distributed electronically

<![CDATA[Previously I told you about the disappearance of the award-winning Midnight RPG from Fantasy Flight Games website and all your favorite PDF vendors. With the U.S. release of the Midnight Chronicles movie slated for next week at Gencon, Fantasy Flight Games has started re-releasing the Midnight game setting on PDF sites. Even better, they’ve lowered [...]]]>

The Midnight RPG returns!

<![CDATA[I received a copy of this module from Matt Finch, its author and the creator of Swords & Wizardry. Swords & Wizardry is a retro-clone OGL game meant to emulate the original Dungeons & Dragons booklets with some of the supplemental material. I really like Matt and Swords & Wizardry, so I wanted to give [...]]]>

Review: Spire of Iron and Crystal - A Tournament Module for Swords and Wizardry

<![CDATA[Here are the spell lists for the classes in 3.old. We’ve brought back reversible spells, which increases the versatility of spellcasters somewhat, and removed a lot of the 3.x baggage. Also, much to my delight, some classic spells have been reinstated (and renamed spells have had their classic names back). Spell descriptions may also change, [...]]]>

3.old Spell Lists

CVG

Providing the latest news, previews, reviews, features, tips and cheats for UK gamers

<![CDATA[<b>User-generated comedy content.</b><br />

It's that time of the week again, where we all crowd around a single screen and vote on which of your hilarious comments we should put into our lovely feature.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> CVG: The week's best comments

<![CDATA[<b>OXM gives CVG the inside track on Codemasters' new FPS.</b><br />

A World First preview of Operation Flashpoint: Red River is contained in the pages of the all-new Official Xbox Magazine - and the publication is impressed with what it's seen.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Operation FlashPoint: Red River is 'tighter, more focused' than Dragon Rising

<![CDATA[<b>Remastered MoH: Frontline included in Limited Edition pack.</b><br />

On top of giving away a beta key for DICE's Battlefield 3, EA is offering buyers of the PS3 version of Medal Of Honor's Limited Edition a special treat - a free HD remastered version of MoH: Frontlines.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Medal Of Honor LE detailed, PS3 buyers get free HD game

<![CDATA[<b>EA and DICE title gets debut via Medal Of Honor LE.</b><br />

EA has announced that DICE is hard at work on Battlefield 3 - and that a beta key for the game will be included in the limited edition of October's Medal Of Honor.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Battlefield 3 beta key in MoH

<![CDATA[<b>Game name revealed on Codemasters artist's CV.</b><br />

The new Operation Flashpoint game will be called OF: Red River, CVG has discovered.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Operation Flashpoint: Red River outed

<![CDATA[<b>And OXM teases 'new cars' (sort of) in sexy incoming issue.</b><br />

Next month's issue of the Official Xbox Magazine will lift the lid on the all-new DiRT 3 - and the mag has told CVG that the game will "blow you away".<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> DiRT 3 will 'blow you away'

<![CDATA[<b>A handy video guide from PSM3.</b><br />

If you're keen to upgrade your old 60GB or 80GB PS3 HDD to something bigger and better - but don't know how - CVG sister mag PSM3 is here to help.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> How to upgrade your PS3's HDD

<![CDATA[<b>TEN (count 'em!) shots from Firefight and Campaign.</b><br />

Microsoft has released ten new shots from Halo: Reach - taken from Firefight: Outpost and Campaign stage Winter Contingency.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Halo: Reach screenshot avalanche

BoardGameNews

Boardgame News front page

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<p><a class="colorbox" title="Egizia" href="http://www.boardgamenews.com/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/egizia.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.boardgamenews.com/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/egizia.jpg" alt="Egizia" style="float:right" /></a>The latest new game tried by the Appalachian Gamers was <i>Egizia</i>, a word that is Italian for Egypt, or so I've been told. This game was designed by Antonio Tinto, Flaminia Brasini, Stefano Luperto, and Virginia Gigli, and published by Hans im Glück and Rio Grande Games. <i>Egizia</i> is what I call a distillation game: it's a game that really doesn't really invent any new mechanisms, but rather distills a lot of popular gaming mechanisms into a well-crafted package.</p>
<p>At its heart, <i>Egizia</i> is a worker-placement game. In this case, the workers are boats that are placed along the river Nile, but most of the usual worker-placement rules are in place: only one boat is usually placed in a space, and the owner of that boat gets the benefits of the space. The spaces are of two kinds; on one side of the river are spaces with pre-set benefits, and on the other side of the river are spaces for cards. Most of the spaces with pre-set benefits allow a player to increase the size of one or more of his four work crews, and sometimes allow a player to move his token down the food or quarry track. Three of the pre-set spaces are tracks where players place ships to work on building projects. Yes, this is another game about building the pyramids.</p>
<p>The spaces for cards naturally yield up the cards to players who place their ships on the appropriate space. There are a large variety of cards including quarries (which provide stone, the only real resource in the game), farmlands (which allow a player to feed his work crews), and a multitude of permanent and one-time special benefits.</p>
<p>The one unique twist on the worker placement mechanism in the game is that players must start by placing their ships upstream, and may only place subsequent ships further downstream from ships already placed. This means that players are constantly faced with the choice of placing a ship only a short way downstream to grab a benefit of minor value, or jumping over a bunch of spaces to grab a really valuable card while knowing that every space you've skipped is now forfeit. Sometimes players who jumped quickly downstream to grab the perfect card ended up being unable to place all of their eight ships because there were too few spaces left downstream.</p>
<p>The gist of the game is simple: place ships to grab cards, increase the size of work crews, and reserve a building action at major monuments. After everyone has placed their ships, work crews are fed (and players lose points if they have crews that can't be fed), stone is collected, and then work is done on the monuments and points are scored. Players use work crews to place stone on the monuments; the larger the work crew, the more stone that can be used, and the more points scored.</p>
<p>Over these simple mechanisms, the designers have layered a lot of detail. Players who have crews who work on the Sphinx can collect cards, and keep one of these each turn. The Sphinx cards provide bonus points for players who can meet the conditions on the cards. It is actually impossible to tell who is truly ahead in the game because each player will score so many bonus points from Sphinx cards at the end of the game that current victory point totals don't mean very much.</p>
<p>Players also score bonus points depending on the number of different monuments they worked on each turn. And there are food and quarry tracks that can provide bonus victory points or extra stone resources if players can drive their tokens far enough along the tracks.</p>
<p><i>Egizia</i> has a good-looking board and lots of fine wooden bits. All the Appalachian Gamers who played it seemed to enjoy the experience, but I can't say it generated wild enthusiasm. <i>Egizia</i> is a game that I think might have created quite a stir if it had been published before 2005 when the publication of <i>Caylus</i> really made worker-placement a truly popular mechanism. But because <i>Egizia</i> has been published now, it seems merely one of many fine worker-placement games.</p>

Kris Hall: Egizia Impressions

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<a href="/games/voll-fahrt" rel="tag" title="">Voll in Fahrt</a> </div>
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<a href="/designers/bob-lindner" rel="tag" title="">Bob Lindner</a> </div>
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<span class="field-content"><a href="/publishers/amigo-spiele" rel="tag" title="">Amigo Spiele</a> — September 2010
<br /><div class="featured-at-indented"><strong>Featured at:</strong> <a href="/preview/spiel-2010">Spiel 2010</a></div></span>
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</div> <p><i><b>Voll in Fahrt</b></i> is a racing game for young and old, with the players racing locomotives in the railyard and trying to be the first to enter the target station in order to win. Since you're in a railyard, though, you need to watch out for changing switches that will send your locomotive zooming in the wrong direction.</p>

Time to Race in the Railyard at Full Speed

Wizard Extreme

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<p><a class="colorbox" title="Bohnanza – Fun &amp; Easy" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/bohnanzafunandeasy.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/bohnanzafunandeasy.jpg" alt="Bohnanza – Fun &amp; Easy" /></a></p>
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<a href="/games/bohnanza-fun-easy" rel="tag" title="">Bohnanza: Fun & Easy</a> </div>
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<a href="/designers/uwe-rosenberg" rel="tag" title="">Uwe Rosenberg</a> </div>
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<span class="field-content"><a href="/publishers/amigo-spiele" rel="tag" title="">Amigo Spiele</a> — September 2010
<br /><div class="featured-at-indented"><strong>Featured at:</strong> <a href="/preview/spiel-2010">Spiel 2010</a></div></span>
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</div> <p>German publisher Amigo Spiele will release Uwe Rosenberg's <i><b>Bohnanza: Fun & Easy</b></i> in September 2010. What's different with this version of Rosenberg's classic <i>Bohnanza</i> card game? Shortened game stages, special event cards, and a lower barrier to entry, according to the publisher's description. Oh, and the familiar bean types have been replaced with rocker beans, skater beans, burger-eating beans, etc. Is this one <i>Bohnanza</i> too many? Has Rosenberg's <i>Bohnanza</i> gone the way of New Coke?!</p>
<p>(This title was previously listed as <i>Bohnanza Youngster</i>.)</p>

Bohnanza for the Younger Crowd

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<p><a class="colorbox" title="Kissenschlacht" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/kissenschlact.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/kissenschlact.jpg" alt="Kissenschlacht" /></a></p>
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<span class="field-content"><a href="/publishers/amigo-spiele" rel="tag" title="">Amigo Spiele</a> — September 2010
<br /><div class="featured-at-indented"><strong>Featured at:</strong> <a href="/preview/spiel-2010">Spiel 2010</a></div></span>
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</div> <p>In Liesbeth Bos' <i><b>Kissenschlacht</b></i> – aka, <i>Pillow Fight</i> – youngsters learn how to conduct pillow fights, a skill that will serve them well in later life once they start attending sleepovers.</p>
<p>The box bottom serves as the bed, and each player has a catapult of sorts that they'll use to launch their four pillows onto the bed. Place a pillow on the bed, and you can place one of your three figures on the corner of the bed as a bedpost; if an opponent knocks down this figure, then you'll need to remove a pillow from the bed and launch it once again. Be the first player to land all four pillows on the bed and you win.</p>
<p>Or keep playing until someone gets hit in the eye with a pillow and starts crying – that's the outcome that I always remember...</p>

Amigo Teaches Pillow Fights to the Youngsters

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<a href="/designers/n%C3%A9stor-romeral-andr%C3%A9s" rel="tag" title="">Néstor Romeral Andrés</a> </div>
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</div> <p>Pentominoes have been part of the common vernacular since Martin Gardner wrote about them in 1957 in his "Mathematical Games" column in <i>Scientific American</i>. U.S. publisher Kadon Enterprises was founded on Kate Jones' <a href="http://www.gamepuzzles.com/hottest.htm#Q" rel="nofollow"><i><b>Quintillions</b></i></a> in 1979, and that game has remained in print for more than thirty years.</p>
<p>The latest ludic take on pentominoes is Néstor Romeral Andrés' <i><b>Pentactic</b></i>, published through his own nestorgames. The game board in <i>Pentactic</i> features three playing areas: 8x8, 7x9 and 6x11. In the basic two-player game, one player controls the pentominoes and the other controls a set of eight stones. The stones player removes a pentomino from play, then players take turns placing pieces on one of the playing areas. The stones player must place each stone in a different row and column to try to block the plays of the pentomino player. When no more pentominoes can be placed, the pentomino player subtracts the number of unplaced stones from the number of unplaced pentominos for a final score. The players then switch sides and play again; the player with the lower score of the two matches wins the game.</p>
<p>Additional rules cover solo play and games that can be played with multiple <i>Pentactic</i> sets.</p>
<p style="text-align:center"><a class="colorbox" title="Pentactic – display" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/pentactic_nestorgames_03.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/pentactic_nestorgames_03.jpg" alt="Pentactic – display" /></a></p>

Pentactic – Another Take on the Pentominoes Game

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Gulf Games Goodies, Part 2 </div>
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<p><a class="colorbox" title="Numeri" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/numeri_02.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/numeri_02.jpg" alt="Numeri" style="float:right" /></a>Last week, I talked about some of the new games I got to play at the most recent Gulf Games that I really enjoyed.  Here are some other new games I tried out, most of which were also well worth playing.</p>
<p><b><i>Deeku:  </i></b>This was the other Kenichi Tenabe design that Joe Huber showed me.  It’s a 2008 game themed around rebuilding castles in 17th century Japan.  The rules are short and the game plays very quickly.  Players place or move their pieces on the locations and if they have a majority there, they can rebuild the castle.  Gameplay is interesting, but it’s pretty abstract and that’s usually not my favorite kind of game.  Additionally, it seems that one of the major skills is searching the semi-random setup for efficient ways of moving and gaining influence and that’s just not something I find that enjoyable. It’s a solid game and I’d have no trouble playing again, but I don't think this will ever be a favorite of mine.  I liked Inotaizu much more.</p>
<p><b><i>Numeri:</i></b>  This is a redesign of a 1973 Rudi Hoffman game (which also had another version, 1998’s Fröscheln).  This is part of Schmidt’s EasyPlay line and it certainly is that.  Each player has pieces numbered 1 through 5 which move on a linear track.  On your turn, you roll a die (which has an asterisk in place of the 6) and move the piece of that number to the first open space on the track (you choose which piece to move if the asterisk comes up).  On a 3-5, you can move two of your pieces if their numbers add up to the roll.   Additionally, if you get three in a row, you take another turn.  About half of the spaces have a value and to get your score, you multiply the number of your piece by the value of the space it’s on and add them all together.  Some people won’t like the arithmetic necessary to determine the scores, but outside of that, this is an appealing family game.  It’s very easy to understand, plays fast, and even has a reasonable amount of decisions.  It’s also a quintessential Hoffman design.</p>
<p><b><i><a class="colorbox" title="Perpetual-Motion Machine" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/yhst-31180761784268_2100_273219.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/yhst-31180761784268_2100_273219.jpg" alt="Perpetual-Motion Machine" style="float:right" /></a>Perpetual Motion Machine:</i></b>  Ted Alspach's latest non-Age of Steam game has little to do with breaking the laws of physics but instead is a nicely constructed cardgame.  Each player has a display which shows different Poker melds (like 3 of a kind and Straight) and when you play a meld of the appropriate kind, you get to place one of your cubes next to that category on the display.  As you place cubes, your abilities in the game increase.  Abilities include things like your hand size, the number of cards you can draw from the stock, and the number of cards you can choose from the display each turn.  The object is to be the first player to place all of your cubes.</p>
<p>The game has a sound foundation and makes a nice, if slightly long, filler. However, my game had 4 players and there's too much shuffling with that number (Ted admits the game plays best with 2 or 3).  We also felt it took a little too long to get to the interesting part, where the players have more abilities.  Perhaps the game would move more briskly if some of the in-between levels (where there’s no advancement) were omitted.  But I still think this a good solid effort by Ted and the game was one of my prize table picks.</p>
<p><b>Pictionary Card Game:</b>  This is a party game by Brian Yu, Dale’s brother (although I don’t hold that against him), which will soon be published by Mattel (Brian is one of Mattel’s in-house designers).  It takes the basic idea of Squint (a Charades style game where the presenter uses pre-printed cards instead of gestures to try to convey the clue), uses more detailed cards (like stick figures or a drawing of a house or airplane), and has teams trying to guess the Pictionary-type subjects.  It’s not a startling advance in party games but it was good fun and a fine alternative for folks who like the idea of Pictionary but who just can’t draw.</p>
<p><b><a class="colorbox" title="Ad Astra" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/adastra.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/adastra.jpg" alt="Ad Astra" style="float:right" /></a>Ad Astra:</b>  This is the Faidutti/Laget game that has been called “Settlers in Space”.  The main mechanic is that players each have a set of actions and place them secretly in a central display (kind of like a one-dimensional Inotaizu, if you remember my description of that game from last week).  Everyone gets to perform the actions, but the player who placed it gets to do it best (a la Puerto Rico–sort of).  This seems like an interesting concept, but I didn’t like the way it worked with five players, which was the number in my game.  Not only were there a large number of actions between the ones you placed, but we found it very difficult to guess what actions others would be placing.  There was also a great deal of groupthink, so you’d see four “move” actions in a row, for example.  Basically, with five, the action mechanism seemed to lead to limited control and much accidental assistance and the game suffered as a result.  The ideas in the rest of the game are quite good, though, and the game is well regarded, so I'd like to try this again with 3.  Not only will we all be placing a greater percentage of the actions, but we’ll each be placing 4 of them instead of 3, which should also help with the control issues.</p>
<p><b>Islas Canarias:</b>  This is a Colovini game that doesn't feel at all like Colovini, but sadly it displeased me as much as most of the rest of his designs.  The basic idea seems reasonable:  each player has an island with its own unique mix of terrain features.  Each turn, you can play a card which lists the rules for building a house of a specific color.  First choice might be next to a river, second choice might be next to a blue house, and so on.  So you have some choice about how you populate your island, which is fine.  But then you each contribute a card to the incoming “ship” and these also get built, sometimes in what seems very arbitrary ways.  Additionally, advancement in this game is often punished, as a set of pirates attack the players who have the most number of houses of a certain color (and who very well may not be winning the game).  The whole thing became more and more random the longer we played (which, unfortunately, was quite a while) and we were all happy when it was over.  I do like a few of Colovini’s smaller games (like Corsari), but for the most part, his tastes and mine are not well aligned at all.  Thus, avoiding Leo is usually my best course of action.</p>

Larry Levy: Gulf Games Goodies, Part 2

<p><a class="colorbox" title="GTR Entertainment" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/gtrentertainment.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/gtrentertainment.jpg" alt="GTR Entertainment" style="float:right" /></a>Alfredo Genovese loves sports games. As a designer, he's taken on rugby in <i>Rugby World</i> and auto racing in <i>Bolide</i>; as the co-owner of Italian publisher Ghenos Games, in addition to releasing those two titles, he's published the bicycle-racing design <i>Giro d'Italia</i> (both as board game and card game) and the sailing game <i>Race the Wind</i>.</p>
<p>Now Genovese and Ghenos Games will distribute four new sports titles in September 2010, three of them apparently being designs by Genovese himself. The games are actually published by <a href="http://www.gtrgames.net/indexeng.htm" rel="nofollow">GTR Entertainment</a>, a Madrid-based company that licenses the right to use logos from sports leagues and the likenesses of sports figures in games. The titles coming from GTR Entertainment are:</p>
<ul>
<li>F1, a Formula 1 racing game</li>
<li>NBA All-Star</li>
<li>UEFA Champions League, with "UEFA" being the Union of European Football Associations</li>
<li>MotoGP</li>
</ul>
<p>No details about the games have been posted by either Ghenos Games or GTR Entertainment, although you can tell by the images posted on the Ghenos website that they all have a similar look, using painted plastic miniatures to represent the players or vehicles.</p>
<p style="text-align:center"><a class="colorbox" title="F1 (Formula 1)" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/f1_01.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/f1_01.jpg" alt="F1 (Formula 1)" /></a>  <a class="colorbox" title="NBA All-Star" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/nbaallstar_01.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/nbaallstar_01.jpg" alt="NBA All-Star" /></a>  <a class="colorbox" title="UEFA Champions League" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/uefachampionsleague_02.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/uefachampionsleague_02.jpg" alt="UEFA Champions League" /></a></p>
<p> </p>

Four New Sports Titles from GTR, Ghenos Games

BoardGames with Scott

BGWS 067 – Dicing for Resources

<![CDATA[Scott talks about several Simultaneous Auction games, including Amun-Re, Homesteaders, Peloponnes, and Cyclades. (21:29) In this episode of Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson takes a look at several different simultaneous auction games, including Amun-Re, Homesteaders, Peloponnes, and Cyclades. (note – I make one mistake in the Homesteaders rules. In Homesteaders, if you are [...]]]>

BGWS 066 – Simultaneous Auction games

<![CDATA[No new episode yet, but one will be coming soon. I’ve changed around some of my social media sites, and wanted to let you know the new addresses so you can keep up with me. I got tired of Facebook mixing up my various personal and academic lives, so I’ve changed how I’m broadcasting there. [...]]]>

Changes to Social Media

<![CDATA[Scott talks about four Flicking Games – Tumblin’ Dice, Pitchcar, Crokinole, and Catacombs. (20:25) Welcome to the BGWS 2.0! In this rethinking of the show, Scott moves away from focusing on just one game per episode, but instead does more comparing and contrasting. There will still usually be at least one new game involved, but [...]]]>

BGWS 065 – Flicking Games and Catacombs

The Only BGWS You Ever Need

<![CDATA[So, I’m starting to have the stirrings to make a new video. I’m recovering from a sinus surgery, so am picking up the pieces from that. If you want to keep up with my thoughts on games, I’m posting them in a twitter feed at scottsturn (https://twitter.com/scottsturn) If you don’t use twitter, but do use [...]]]>

Keeping up with Scott

<![CDATA[While I’m taking a break from doing the full Board Games with Scott episodes, I will continue to release some content over on my YouTube channel in my “Scott’s Stuff” series. When there is something appropriate for BGWS viewers, I will cross-post it to this feed. I did a discussion of my Top Ten Gaming [...]]]>

Scott’s Stuff – Top Game Experiences for 2009

<![CDATA[Well, my muse has not yet returned. I’ve played some games that I’ve really enjoyed – Peloponnes and Chaos in the Old World are both games I considered making a video about. But I think about making a video, and the drive just isn’t there. I don’t want to say that I’m ending the show, [...]]]>

Taking a Break…

OgreCave

Unplugged gaming news and views

<![CDATA[As sometimes happens, one of our recent review targets has been updated, and Demian is on the case. As proof, he’s taken a look at two recent additions to the Wickedly Errant Game System from Gamewick Games. First, WEGS: Old Skool Redux tweaks and adds to the core fantasy RPG system, improving on the original [...]]]>

OgreCave reviews – WEGS Redux, Dice Rule!

<![CDATA[It’s that time of year again: Gen Con draws ever closer, heralding the announcement of the Diana Jones Award and its shortlist for 2010. Each year, this independent award is bestowed on prime examples of “excellence in gaming” by the Diana Jones Committee (made up of past winners and other luminaries). The nominees are an [...]]]>

2010 Diana Jones Award shortlist announced

<![CDATA[RPG Blog 2 broke the news that Precis Intermedia is the new home of the Masterbook, Shatterzone and Bloodshadows properties, which all formerly belonged to West End Games. Last month, it was revealed that WEG’s Eric Gibson had sold the rights to TORG, the precursor to the Masterbook system, to German company Ulisses Spiele – [...]]]>

Precis Intermedia acquires remaining West End Games properties

<![CDATA[Because we know you can’t get enough, we’re starting the week with another Gaming News Update interview. This time Lee Valentine chats with Colby Dauch of Plaid Hat Games and Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons Heroscape line. Colby has several projects in his queue, both freelance designs and new Summoner Wars releases, which Lee quizzes him [...]]]>

OgreCave Gaming News Update – Colby Dauch

<![CDATA[To help keep us up to date on the mass of card gaming goodness available these days, Demian has sent over his thoughts on 7 Ate 9 and Super Circles (both from Out of the Box), and on Third-World General (Battle Bunker Games). As it turns out, at least one of these failed to fully [...]]]>

OgreCave reviews – 7 Ate 9, Super Circles, Third-World General

<![CDATA[Mike tweeted about this earlier, but it deserves a main page mention: Betrayal at House on the Hill: Second Edition is on final approach for release October 5th. Co-designer Bruce Glassco announced the new edition back in November 2009, and has recently hinted at new features of the updated game. The new game will feature [...]]]>

Betrayal at House on the Hill 2e coming October 5th

<![CDATA[In our latest Gaming News Update interview, Lee Valentine chats with Chuck Kroegel of Petroglyph Games about the company’s plans to release a card game, a board game, and a PC game in the next few months, all about a single fantasy setting. Kroegel, Petroglyph’s General Manager and one of the company’s designers, goes into [...]]]>

OgreCave Gaming News Update – Petroglyph Games

<![CDATA[In his quest to examine every corner of Small World, Lee has taken an extensive look at Small World: Tales and Legends, the brand-new expansion for Small World being released this week by Days of Wonder. The set adds random Event cards to the ebb and flow of conquest and civilization decline that fans of [...]]]>

OgreCave review – Small World: Tales and Legends

Next Generation

Latest news, features, blogs and magazine articles from Edge

Nexon America Q2 Sales Up 26%

Out Soon: E218

Sega Games Business Slashes Q1 Losses

Lovefilm Likely Headed To PS3, Wii

The Friday Game: Drop7

ESA Q2 Lobbying Spend Down 5%

Force Unleashed Exec Producer Steps Down

The Making Of: Little Computer People

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