Incursion board game, Game Of Thrones Living Card Game and starting Flames Of War. Who's a busy boy then?

Ere are sum vids wot I dun.

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Posted in: board games,Flames Of War,LCG

Lord Of The Rings, Living Card Game - What's in it? What's it like?

Look over at the video bar on the right and you will see a link over to the Youtube video I made (Monkeyreado channel) about the contents of the box. There are three. I bought it for under £30, which I thought was pretty reasonable - compared to other similar games out there. What sets this apart (a little) is the fact it's able to be played solo. Not everyone in my house is really that bothered by this kind of stuff. So this is a real selling point for me.

So here's a mini-review to go with it...

Presentation quality is great - as I've come to expect from FFG. The art is quite traditional, but well executed. The card stock for all of the components is durable and sturdy. The box may be a little large given the number of items but I guess it can also store any expansion packs that you might accrue along the way.

Ease of getting in to game one. Excellent I'd say. Probably slightly easier than Warhammer:Invasion to start off with - especially since you can jettison a few rules until you are ready for them. Also, in order to win the game (against the game) you need to complete a set of quest cards. These come in a variety of difficulty levels so that you can choose how hard you want your gaming experience to be. It is a tough game, however you play it though, and probably more difficult to succeed at than Warhammer:Invasion.

Playability/fun? - This is a really engaging gaming experience. Even solo. The game ebbs and flows, the chances of winning are slim and it feels like a real achievement to progress through to the end. The rules are reasonably simple, though I did need to make use of the game guide at the back of the rule book to make sure I did everything in the right sequence. The odds are stacked aginst you -  and the outcomes from using each of four the different deck sorts can be variable. I easily beat an easy quest using the Tactics deck but struggled with the Spirit one. Each deck has it's own strategy so I'll have to work on these. The Tactics deck is basically an attack deck, so that's probably why it was easy to get to grips with early on. Because of the four decks and three quests you start with - there is a lot of replayability for the new player. Add in the multiplayer experience and then the expansion packs....

OVERALL - highly recommended. I played three or four games in the first few days and then a couple more in the first week. I 'won' three out of six. The frustration is (nearly) enjoyable. It is also incredibly tough to complete your quests once you start ramping up the complexity and difficulty levels though - so be warned. But you know what? What's the point of a game that you know that you're going to win at every time? A good 8.5/10.

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Posted in: LCG

The end of Preacher - by Ennis/Dillon

I thought I'd make sure that I rounded off the Preacher series with a mini-review, and then list some of the things that should be coming up.

First off, let me say that Ennis and Dillon did a grand job on the series overall. I knew the work of these guys of old and it doesn't disappoint. The artwork is clear, confident and packs a punch. I adore the Fabry covers included in the trade paperbacks. There are also some great illustrations at the end too. The narrative is thoughtful, the interplay between he characters is interesting and, to an extent, very 'human', despite the storyline. The storyline itself progressed quite interestingly in the first half of the series. I enjoyed the oddities, the seediness and the gratuitous violence. The one criticism that I might have is that, by the last volume (The Alamo), I already sort of knew where the story was going to end up. It felt a little too familiar and I think this lessened the impact of the final dramatic narrative 'punches'. The Saint of Killers is an absolutely fantastic creation though!
Up and coming graphic novel reports from me will include the next few volumes (up to v.8) of the excellent black and white zombie series The Walking Dead. Then we have - The Boys (Ennis again) up to volume 5, Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen : Century 1969, Willingham's fabulous Fables  - volumes 14 and 15, Mignola's The Amazing Screw on Head...
Then there's the Lord Of the Rings LCG to consider along with the rulebooks for Dark Age Games, Malifaux and Warmachine : Wrath.
I'll let you know about them all ... if ever I have time!!

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Posted in: Dark Age Games,graphic novels,LCG,Malifaux,Warmachine

Warhammer Invasion - first impressions.

So, to plead for mercy - given the inordinate amount of time it took to paint the Rune Priest - here's something I did earlier this week. I played through a couple of games of this LCG (Living Card Game) by Fantasy Flight Games.




...the box...

 


What it looks like on the table.

 

... And in fact, the games went really well. The rules are accessible and easy to use. The cards/tokens/counters are well made, as I have come to expect from FFG, and the art work on the cards was also pretty good overall (if not quite as 'artistic' as many Magic : The Gathering cards).

Essentially you play as a race with a set of 50 cards against an enemy (or up to 3 in the core box). Cards are split into Units/Support/Tactics types and you play them according to the number of resource tokens you have. The idea is to use your Units to destroy your opponents 'Kingdom' by dealing hit points and eventually setting two out of three zones on fire. You can in turn, defend with your units and use tactics/spells etc. as you go along... you get the idea...

You can mix allied races(e.g. Empire and Dwarfs), but reduce the likelihood of being able to use some abilities - like Magic TG. Each race has its own way of working, and you can build on these, or build other races up by buying other expansion packs (at around £8 or so - at Amazon etc.). The 'Orcz' are suitably thuggish and Chaos use corruption type abilities. The various expansions add new abilities to your forces and some introduce other races, like Lizardmen.

There were, of course, some quibbles over card interpretations but these were not game stopping, with a little give and take. There are also forums (as on the FFG website) where you can check out errata and rules clarification.

In the end each game took about an hour and there was a real sense of battle, and an ebb and flow to the game as it progressed. I was well beaten, but enjoyed the experience all the same. A very successful  foray into LCGs. The card abilities and gameplay ends up being a little less 'sophisticated' (and complex) than MTG, however the strategic thinking and careful combining of cards is all here.There is a lot of replayability too, with 4 sets of cards in the intro set. At around £25 to £30, a little expensive perhaps, but look around, I would absolutely recommend it. I am going to look out for the FFG Lord of The Rings LCG set which is due out soon and can be played solo.

Watch this space for more...  oh, and a set of the board game Catan has arrived...

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Posted in: LCG,Warhammer Invasion