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August - 2010

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Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong about the danger. ~ 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

09/09 Six Straight Hours of Staring Into Space Game Night

Poster:

Mountain Climber
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:22 am

Wow, I am going to make it 2 weeks in a row. I am not sure the time of arrival at this point.

Comments: 6 • Post a reply • Views: 33

Thurs. Sept. 2nd Welcome Home Game Night

Poster:

D Erasmus
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Mon Aug 30, 2010 4:21 pm

Skittlebrau wrote:

D_E, I will try a shard as I can to be there at 6:30 for a game of DungeonQuest, since I know you were interested...

I'd try this... Another time...

Comments: 33 • Post a reply • Views: 178

Second Annual Familypalooza! Start Planning Now!

Poster:

Captain Yid
Forum: Gameapaloozas / All Day Events

Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:13 pm

A great time, as usual:)

Comments: 76 • Post a reply • Views: 610

08/26 -- Looking for a place to game night

Poster:

Captain Yid
Forum: Game Nights / Meet Ups

Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:59 am

D Erasmus wrote:

Kingsburg + Expansion - My son was winning until he had to go to bed.

What a great idea! Sorry sweetheart, I know you are kicking my butt by 30 victory points, but rules are rules and you have to go to bed. Don't give me that line about it only being 6:30 either.

Comments: 17 • Post a reply • Views: 143

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<a href="/announcements/jerusalem-available-abacusspiele">Jerusalem Available from Abacusspiele</a> </div>
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<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Nowadays the amount of games published is impressive and is not easy for a game to pass the test and avoid the <i>dusty shelf</i>. We all know that is not a good practice to judge a game after reading the rules or just after a single play: otherwise the pressure of the new comings is impressive and so, seldom, we offer a game more than 2 chances.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">We are used to write <i>first impressions</i> and also <i>previews</i> from the rules: I want start to write a series of review based on the impressions after just 2 plays. the title of the series will be: <i><b>Take Two</b></i>.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm"><b>Jerusalem</b> is a clever area-control game from <b>Michele Mura</b>, designer of <b>Lungarno</b> and <b>Easy School</b>. Players are Barons trying to get prestige taking control of key area in Jerusalem. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm"><i>At the beginning of the 12th Century, European families conquered Jerusalem. The city became a theater for power struggles and bloody clashes. The King's Palace, the Holy Sepulcher, and the Tower of David were the keys to control of the city. Crusades, new Patriarchs, and the politics of the region constantly altered the fates of the families. Which Baron will prove most able? Who's castle will tower over the rest?</i></p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Here in the preamble and in the nice graphics is all the theme: the game itself is quite abstract and Michele Mura shows again to be a <i>German</i> designer despite he is from Pisa.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The game is played in 5 rounds every round split in 4 phase: bid, deploy, collect and events. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">In the <b>first phase</b> players are <b>bidding</b> for Offices cards to set the turn order and the amount of squires you can deploy in phase two. Every turn also are drawn as many actions cards as players. Going first means you can chose which action card take, you get more squires but you can't react to other players playing on the board after you apart blocking an area with your Baron. All this including little benefits offered by some Offices will make the bidding one of the crucial part of the game: is not a trivial decision to choose the right Office and it could be other players are looking for the same.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The <b>second phase</b> is <b>deployment</b>. In turn order each player place all his squires (some could be preserved for the next turn) and the Baron. The city of Jerusalem is divided into five Districts. Each District, in turn, is split into three Areas: one large area and two smaller ones. In addition, there is the Tower of David, which is made of only one Area. To control an Area you need to have more squires than any other player. To control a district you need to have more squires in the three areas of the district than any other player. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">You can place your Baron in an Area only if you have placed at least three new squire in the same area; the Baron prevent other players to place squires in the area. Going first offers in that way the possibility to secure just one area and could be sometimes enough to justify a race for the first Office. If you need extra squires you can hire mercenaries but the cost is high and it's an option seldom used.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The squires stay in place until the end of the game and could be removed only with event or action cards, causing a progressive contest for area and district control.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The <b>third phase</b> is <b>collecting</b>: first the player controlling the tower of David can move one squire from the Tower of David to any other Area in the city that is not blocked by a Baron; this could be enough to get control of an area and/or a district and is something important you can easily leave behind in the deploy phase in the first plays. After that are assigned the district privileges and finally the areas revenues. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Privileges and revenues are all about getting money (used for bidding), prestige (used to build the Castle tower that is, actually, the way to score and win) and squires.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The third phase end with the <b>tower construction</b>: to rise a floor has an increasing cost in prestige points and be the first one to build a specific floor is more expensive: a simple rule to prevent early run. The winner is the player with the highest tower at the end of the game (prestige points are used for break-even) and it is not so easy to focus on that during the game: money and squires are only the way you can get prestige and prestige is the only thing you need to construct floor.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">At the end of second, third and fourth turn there is the <b>event phase</b>: an event card is revealed usually causing some major change in one or more district. It is important to know what the event cards are doing before playing (are just 4 and only 3 are used during the game).</p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The action cards concern mostly in getting money and squires or moving squires and are usually useful. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The game works really well and the fight for prestige and area control is tense. Is not really nothing new but a nice mix of known mechanism with some clever idea. The graphics and material are good and the rules are well written. Jerusalem passed the "Take Two" test. </p>
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Take Two - Jerusalem

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What is your Cult of the New Score (CotNS)? </div>
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<p>OK, last week, I posed a question to you to look at how many of the most popular games (based on the number of BGG ratings) you had played and owned. I thought that this question might be an indication of how well rounded of a gamer you were.  However, as I admitted in the article, this measure is completely arbitrary and there are all sorts of biases that affected the final score.  Despite all these shortcomings, the question certainly generated a lot of conversation – and this interest has pushed me to try to look at a related, yet different, question – do you qualify for membership in the “Cult of the New”?</p>
<p>I am not sure who originally coined the term “Cult of the New” to describe those gamers who spend most of their gaming time trying to find and play games that are new to them.  They are the antithesis to the “Defenders of the Old”.  Given the chance to play 10 games in a day, a Cult of the New member would likely choose to play 10 different games with as many of them being new to him while the Defender of the Old would stick to his favorite classics – and likely play some of those classics more than once in that 10-game span!</p>
<p>So, what would be a good way to measure your willingness/ability to play new games?  As with the Populist Gamer Score, the choice of list is perhaps the biggest (and arbitrary) determinant of the survey.  For this question, I have chosen to use the list from the Fairplay Scoutlist from last year’s Spiel fair in Essen.  This list of 100 games represents the “most popular” games released at last October’s fair.  I am making the assumption that the sorts of gamers that went to Essen and then logged votes at the Fairplay booth are similar to the sorts of gamers who would read websites such as BGN.</p>
<p>I would like to take a minute to thank Kathrin Nos, who is part of the Fairplay staff (as well as being a SdJ jury member) – she assisted me in obtaining the full list of Fairplay results.  Only the top 30 games were published on the Fairplay blog, but I was able to extend this list to the top 100 games from Spiel ’09.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Fairplay, it is a magazine published in German about boardgames.  At each Spiel in Essen, Fairplay has a booth where anyone can come and vote for their favorite games of the show.  The rankings are posted on a magnetic board, and a few times a day, the Fairplay staff come and re-organize the game rankings.  The Fairplay board is a good way to see what everyone else thinks are the hot games of the show, and the final results are a pretty decent snapshot of the fair buzz.</p>
<p>So, I want to use the Fairplay Scoutlist from the 2009 Essen show as the basis for determining how strongly you are a part of the “Cult of the New”.  I wanted to use the list from this past Essen because of a number of reasons.  First, the list was generated 10 months ago – at this point, most folks who were interested in looking at any of these games should have had a fair chance at acquiring it or coming across it.  Second, the list is generated by gamers who are hopefully similar to the readers of this column.</p>
<p>The scoring system for this scale will be a little different than the Populist Gamer Score – while there is still an emphasis on game ownership, it has a much lower overall effect on the CotNS than the PGS.  The reason for this is that actually owning the games isn’t as important as playing the new ones to determine how willing you are to try new games.  That being said, ownership still plays a role in the score, especially because one of the hallmarks of a Cult of the New gamer is his willingness to buy all sorts of new games in the hope that he will get the game to the table at some point…</p>
<p>Without further ado – here is the scoring system for the CotN – in order to calculate your score, you’ll need to evaluate the list of 100 games twice. First you should consider whether you have played the game or not.  Make note of which games you have played more than once.  There are a few re-releases on this list which made the Fairplay Scoutlist (Ra, a la Carte) – you should count plays of the newly released versions.</p>
<p><b>Games Played</b></p>
<p><b>3 points per game that you have played once</b></p>
<p><b>4 points per game that you have played more than once</b></p>
<p>Next, you need to look at your game collection and see which games you have owned (now or previously).  It will also be important to note which games you own and still haven’t played! There are a few re-releases on this list which made the Fairplay Scoutlist (Ra, a la Carte) – you should count plays of the newly released versions.</p>
<p><b>Games Owned (at any point)</b></p>
<p><b>3 points per game currently owned and not yet ever played</b></p>
<p><b>1 point per all other games ever owned (played or not)</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a title="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3509720/CotN%20Scoring%20Spreadsheet.xls" href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3509720/CotN%20Scoring%20Spreadsheet.xls" rel="nofollow">If it helps, here is a Excel spreadsheet (with my scoring contained within) that you can use to calculate your own score.</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what is the rationale behind this scoring system?  Well, first and foremost, the emphasis should be on the number of new games played.  A small bonus is given for playing the new games multiple times - but the bonus is not large because the CotN member generally wants to play as many new games as possible.  Ownership of games is not as large a component of the final score here because you certainly don't need to be a collectory of games to want to play as many new ones as possible.  That being said, there is a strong bonus given for owned games (that are not yet played) as this is one of the cardinal signs of belonging to the CotN -- the fact that you go out any buy so many new games that you can't play them all!  For the purposes of this survey, that sort of game is worth just as much as a new game played just once.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Here is the final Fairplay Scoutlist from 2009 – it is in order of final ranking.</p>
<ol>
<li>Vasco da Gama</li>
<li>Pony Express</li>
<li>Machtspiele</li>
<li>Macao</li>
<li>Magister Navis (Endeavour)</li>
<li>Vor den Toren von Loyang (Gates of Loyang)</li>
<li>Dungeon Lords</li>
<li>Egizia</li>
<li>Rise of Empires</li>
<li>Funkenschlag – Fabrikmanager (Funkenshlag: Factory Manager)</li>
<li>Hansa Teutonica</li>
<li>Carson City</li>
<li>Automobile</li>
<li>Last Train to Wensleydale</li>
<li>Cyclades</li>
<li>Mr. Jack in New York</li>
<li>A la carte</li>
<li>Dominion: Seaside</li>
<li>Ra</li>
<li>Die Tore der Welt (World Without End)</li>
<li>Im Wandel der Zeiten Würfelspiel (Roll Through the Ages)</li>
<li>Assyria</li>
<li>Schinderhannes</li>
<li>Caligula</li>
<li>Greed, Incorporated</li>
<li>Arena - Revolte in Rom II</li>
<li>Santa Timea</li>
<li>Battlestar Galactica</li>
<li>Tobago</li>
<li>Startspieler</li>
<li>Opera</li>
<li>Ad Astra</li>
<li>Der Heidelbär</li>
<li>Basketboss</li>
<li>Klimapoker</li>
<li>Stronghold</li>
<li>Peloponnes</li>
<li>Arg!tekt</li>
<li>Fzzzt!</li>
<li>Jaipur</li>
<li>Campanile</li>
<li>Numeri</li>
<li>Avalam</li>
<li>Shipyard</li>
<li>Attandarra</li>
<li>Alcazar</li>
<li>Galactico</li>
<li>Imperial 2030</li>
<li>Colonia</li>
<li>El Paso</li>
<li>Sumeria</li>
<li>Thunderstone</li>
<li>Langfinger</li>
<li>Martinique</li>
<li>Boochie</li>
<li>Lübeck</li>
<li>Gonzaga</li>
<li>Havanna</li>
<li>Savannah Tails</li>
<li>Seidenstraße</li>
<li>Pocket Rockets</li>
<li>San Francisco Cable Car</li>
<li>Morgenland: Das Kartenspiel</li>
<li>Atlantis</li>
<li>Erwischt!</li>
<li>Robotory</li>
<li>Horse Fever</li>
<li>Der Herr der Ringe - Abenteuer in Mittelerde</li>
<li>Day & Night</li>
<li>Carcassonne - Das Schicksalsrad</li>
<li>Ra - The Dice Game</li>
<li>Infinite City</li>
<li>Toc Toc Toc!</li>
<li>Strada Romana</li>
<li>Insula</li>
<li>Hotel Amsterdam</li>
<li>Albion</li>
<li>Car(d)cassonne</li>
<li>The BoardGameGeek Game</li>
<li>Darwinci</li>
<li>Beer & Pretzels</li>
<li>Krysis</li>
<li>Filipino Fruit Market</li>
<li>The Adventurers</li>
<li>Samurai - The Cardgame</li>
<li>Burger Joint</li>
<li>Psycho Pet</li>
<li>Würfel-Ligretto</li>
<li>Donna Leon - Gefährliches Spiel</li>
<li>Schwarzes Gold</li>
<li>Granada</li>
<li>Das Labyrinth des Minotaurus</li>
<li>Cir*Kis</li>
<li>Kazaam Dice</li>
<li>Fantasy</li>
<li>Chromimo</li>
<li>Identik</li>
<li>Bobby Sitter</li>
<li>Unter schwarzer Flagge</li>
<li>Maus au Chocolat</li>
</ol>
<p>So, how did you do?   My CotNS is <b>201</b>. </p>
<p>Broken down, I have played 41 games on the list (21 of them multiple times).  I have owned 39 of them at some point, and 9 of them I currently own and still haven’t played!</p>
<p>Though I haven’t had the chance to run this by a lot of other gamers yet, I’m guessing that a score of 125 or better shows a pretty strong commitment to the newest games.  My score is likely a little higher because I was at Essen and had a good chance to run into a LOT of the new games there and then I had the opportunity to play a ton of games at BGG.con and Great Lakes Games in that next month.</p>
<p>Despite having all those opportunities to play games, there are still 9 games from last year’s Essen crop that I have in the basement, but I have yet to play!  Two of them I chose off of game convention prize tables over the summer, but the other 7 managed to come back crammed in my luggage from Essen…  I’ll have to bump those up to the top of the list in the next few months as very soon there will be the additions to the game collection from 2010 Essen!  With some diligence on my part, I’ll hopefully be able to hit the halfway mark of games played by the time I leave for this year’s Spiel fair...</p>
<p>So how do you score?</p>
<p>Me: <b>201</b></p>
<p>Larry Levy: <b>155</b> (22 games played once, 19 games played multiple times, and 13 games owned)</p>
<p>Joe Huber: <b>156</b> ("Of the 17 games I have owned from the list, I currently only own 7; nearly all of my score comes from the 41 games I've played (16 multiple times).  And of course I won't abide with owned but unplayed games."</p>
<p>Tom Rosen: <b>133</b></p>
<p>Greg Schloesser: <b>185</b> (12 games played once, 27 games played multiple times, 3 games owned and never played, 32 other games owned)</p>
<p>Until your next appointment,</p>
<p>The Gaming Doctor</p>
<p> </p>

Dale Yu: What is your Cult of the New Score (CotNS)?

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<p><a class="colorbox" title="Magestorm" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/magestorm3d.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/magestorm3d.jpg" alt="Magestorm" /></a></p>
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Game name: </div>
<a href="/games/magestorm" rel="tag" title="">Magestorm</a> </div>
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<a href="/designers/piero-cioni" rel="tag" title="">Piero Cioni</a> </div>
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<span class="field-content"><a href="/publishers/nexus-games" rel="tag" title="">Nexus Games</a> — October 2010
<br /><div class="featured-at-indented"><strong>Featured at:</strong> <div class="field-item field-item-0"><a href="/preview/gen-con-2010">Gen Con 2010</a></div><div class="field-item field-item-1"><a href="/preview/spiel-2010">Spiel 2010</a></div></div></span>
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</div> <p>Here's a description of <i><b>Magestorm</b></i> from the publisher:</p>
<blockquote><p>In the world of Two Suns, the time of the Great Changing is coming… While armies meet in a mighty clash on the battlefields, powerful magicians with god-like powers enter the fray, pursuing their own mysterious goals.<br /> <br /> <i>Magestorm</i> is the first board game in a new series where you will finally be able to play fantasy battles as you dream them to be! You will control the mystical powers of one of four different mages - the Firemage, the Airmage, the Druid and the Fate Guardian – and you will lead into battle one of the two complete armies included in the game – the human Kragis and the elves Láusjan. Victory can only be achieved by the perfect combination of magic-using and military skill...<br /> <br /> With top-level components, fast-playing rules and incredible replayability, <i>Magestorm</i> is the portal to an exciting new fantasy universe.</p>
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<p style="text-align:center"><a class="colorbox" title="Magestorm – sample set-up" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/display_22.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/display_22.jpg" alt="Magestorm – sample set-up" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:left"><b>Updated, Sept. 8, 2010:</b> Nexus Games has published several previews for <i>Magestorm</i>, detailing both components and game play:</p>
<ol>
<li>An <a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3711" rel="nofollow">overview</a> of the game itself.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3712" rel="nofollow">Descriptions</a> of two of the army factions and the four mages.</li>
<li>Pictures of the components, and <a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3713" rel="nofollow">explanations</a> of how they function in the game.</li>
<li>An <a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3718" rel="nofollow">explanation</a> of how magic works in Magestorm, both conceptually and in terms of the game mechanisms.</li>
<li>An <a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3719" rel="nofollow">overview</a> of the four mages in the game and the spells available to them.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3722" rel="nofollow">Descriptions</a> of the Kragis and Láusjans armies.</li>
<li>An <a href="http://www.nexusgames.com/read.asp?id=3726" rel="nofollow">interview</a> with designer Piero Cioni about the game's development and future expansion plans.</li>
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Magestorm – Coming from Nexus Games

Stronghold: Undead

<p><a class="colorbox" title="51st State" href="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/51ststate_03.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/thumbs/51ststate_03.jpg" alt="51st State" style="float:right" /></a>Designer Ignacy Trzewiczek created a designer's diary extraordinaire on Boardgame News in 2009 with a 13-part explanation of how his <i>Stronghold</i> was created and developed. While Trzewiczek isn't going to such lengths with his 2010 release, the card game <i><b>51st State</b></i>, he has been telling stories about the creative process in his bi-weekly column on BGN – check out "<a href="http://boardgamenews.com/columns/ignacy-trzewiczek-lunatic" rel="nofollow">Lunatic</a>", "<a href="http://boardgamenews.com/columns/ignacy-trzewiczek-judging-prototypes-potential" rel="nofollow">Judging a Prototype's Potential</a>" and "<a href="http://boardgamenews.com/columns/ignacy-trzewiczek-fun-playtesting" rel="nofollow">Fun With Playtesting</a>" for examples in August and September 2010.</p>
<p>What's more, Trzewiczek has been posting additional details about the game play in <i>51st State</i> on the Portal Publishing website. To date, he's published only two such articles:</p>
<ul>
<li>"51st State – Game system, first view" (<a href="http://www.portalpublishing.eu/2010/09/51st-state-game-system-first-view/" rel="nofollow">link</a>), which gives examples of how three different cards can be used three ways within the game to provide resources and allow various actions.</li>
<li>"51st State – Game system: develop your state" (<a href="http://www.portalpublishing.eu/2010/09/51st-state-game-system-develop-your-state/" rel="nofollow">link</a>), which shows how the systems within your newly-founded state can and must evolve during the course of the game, both to improve your network and to avoid being hamstrung by the scoring limits on various cards.</li>
</ul>
<p>With six more weeks prior to the opening of Spiel 2010 perhaps Trzewiczek will end up writing a monster series of articles after all...</p>

More Details on 51st State

Gauss – Do you remember playing with magnets?

<p>To follow up on a <a href="http://boardgamenews.com/news/neuroshima-hex-coming-ipad-iphone">June 2010 news item</a>, the adaptation of Michał Oracz's <em><strong>Neuroshima Hex!</strong></em> to the various iDevices – Phone, Pod, Pad – is complete. Łukasz Łazarecki from Big Daddy's Creations says that the app has been submitted to Apple for approval, and he expects it to be available by mid-September 2010. For those who want a taste of what's coming, here's a promotional video from Big Daddy's Creations:</p>
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</object></p>

Neuroshima Hex Hits iDevices in September 2010

<p><img src="/sites/default/files/imagepicker/4/adeptismileyGNT.jpg" alt="Geek Nation Tours – AdeptiCon logo" style="float:right" />Geek Nation Tours has an interesting business model: Handling all the fine details related to premier gaming events so that you can focus on more important matters. In June 2010, I <a href="http://boardgamenews.com/news/spend-week-derk-solko-europe" rel="nofollow">posted</a> info about a Spiel 2010 tour with BoardGameGeek's Derk Solko. Now GNT is organizing a trip to AdeptiCon – which it describes as "the world’s largest wargaming tournament" in late March 2011. Here's part of the pitch from GNT:</p>
<blockquote><p>AdeptiCon has a multitude of gaming experiences for the discriminating wargamer. AdeptiCon offers tournaments using a variety of different wargaming systems, a huge amount of seminars and shopping too. It is a spectacle to be seen and experienced...</p>
<p>Although gaming registration is still done with the AdeptiCon crew directly. Geek Nation Tours has secured guaranteed registration for those that book prior to September 30th 2010. That's right! Book with Geek Nation Tours and you will be able to pre-register for all events prior to them going public.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Head to the <a href="http://www.geeknationtours.com/index.php?pageid=31&tourid=10" rel="nofollow">Geek Nation Tours website</a> for more info on the trip.</p>

Travel to Chicago and Make War

The Gamer Dome

Your Source for Games and Gaming Online

<![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

GameSpot Previews

Latest updates from Gamespot.com

We try out the next Sims 3 expansion, which will let you start a band, be a professional celebrity, and become a vampire...who isn't sparkly in the sunlight!

The Sims 3: Late Night Exclusive Hands-On - A Brief Look at the New Expansion [PC]

We sit through a demonstration of a handful of new single-player levels and then try our hand at the game's multiplayer.

Front Mission Evolved Multiplayer Hands-On - Domination Mode Plus More Single-Player Details [PC]

We team up and fight giant robots with our bare hands...and stack some colored blocks.

Slam Bolt Scrappers Hands-On [PlayStation 3]

This mash-up of genres wears its influences on its sleeve, but it's a very pretty sleeve nonetheless.

Outland First Look [PlayStation 3]

Sony shows off its arcade-style action game for the PlayStation Network at PAX 2010.

Eat Them Hands-On [PlayStation 3]

We dive into this futuristic survival-adventure game and use the environment in clever ways to stay alive.

Hydrophobia Hands-On [Xbox 360]

We grapple, leap, and uppercut our way through this retro sequel.

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 Updated Impressions [PlayStation 3]

One of the most vital ingredients to all forms of life finally gets its own game.

Fluidity Hands-On [Wii]

CVG

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

<![CDATA[<b>Konami gives us a sneek peek.</b><br />

Konami has released a load of screenshots and a video of the Wii version of Pro Evolution Soccer 2011.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> PES 2011 Wii screenshots and trailer

<![CDATA[<b>Platform holder goes very tongue in cheek.</b><br />

Remember Microsoft's claims that, like-for-like, its £130 Kinect offered the best motion-control money could buy? Remember the chart it showed us all to 'prove' it? Sony's Kevin Butler's replied. You know what happens next.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Sony: Kinect can't compare to a hoop and stick

<![CDATA[<b>Capcom man offers Japanese publishers the solution.</b><br />

Mega Man and Dead Rising creator - and all-round Capcom legend - Keiji Inafune has advised Japanese publishers to partner with US developers if they want to survive the current economy.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Japan studios must partner with US devs to survive - Inafune

<![CDATA[<b>Konami survival horror officially announced.</b><br />

Konami has just officially announced that its eighth Silent Hill game will be released next year on PS3 and Xbox 360. The publisher's given it a working title of Silent Hill 8. See what it did there.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Silent Hill 8 coming 2011 - video here

<![CDATA[<b>EA will reveal the game next week.</b><br />

No More Heroes creator Goichi 'Suda51' Suda and Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami have been tight-lipped about the EA project they've been working on for the past two years.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Suda51 and Shinji Mikami project confirmed for TGS

<![CDATA[<b>... well, the Limited Edition GameStop boxart, anyway.</b><br />

Gran Turismo boss Kazunori Yamauchi, recently handed out free copies of GT5 as part of a special managers' event at US retail giant GameStop.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Gran Turismo 5 boxart revealed

<![CDATA[<b>Nintendo DS title gets perfect score.</b><br />

Japanese gaming bible Famitsu has printed its Pokemon Black and White review - and given Nintendo's pair of DS titles a perfect '10'.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Pokemon Black & White review - 10/10 in Famitsu

<![CDATA[<b>Check out the new Wager mode in action.</b><br />

Treyarch last week announced the new Wager Match mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops - which allows you to gamble away your COD Points in four new gameplay modes.<br /><br /><a href=

Click here to read the full article]]>" /> Stunning Call of Duty: Black Ops videos arrive

Next Generation

Latest news, features, blogs and magazine articles from Edge

Keita Takahashi Quits Namco Bandai

PAX Attendance Hits 67,600

Japan Finally Getting Final Fantasy XIII On Xbox 360

Wii's Artistic Licence: uDraw

£300 Kinect Bundle Revealed

Microsoft Details Japanese Kinect Launch

Indie Game Challenge 2011 Submission Deadline Nears

Analysts: Xbox 360, Madden August NPD Winners

BoardGames with Scott

BGWS 068 – Horse Racing Games

<![CDATA[Scott talks about several games where you use dice in different ways to get resources. (19:42) In this episode of Board Games with Scott, host Scott Nicholson takes a look at several different games where you use dice in different ways to get resources – The Settlers of Catan, Kingsburg, Stone Age, and Macao Download [...]]]>

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

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