7 Wonders!

Hey folks, again, it's been a long time since the last post.  :P

I've been playing 7 Wonders a lot with my friends ever since I got introduced to it from my last workplace.  A big plus about the game is that it doesn't take too long to set up or play.  This makes it a great game to play when people want to try out multiple boardgames in a session, rather than play a marathon session of Arkham Horror.  :)  The drawback is that there is so much to explain at first and so many symbols to learn that to the new player it seems a lot to take in at once.  However, it usually only takes 1 game to get people up to speed - the concepts are really simple especially if you've played other strategy games before.

I do have to admit though, it does get repetitive if you play it too much, which was why I got the Cities expansion recently.  The addition of some new cards with cool properties adds some more depth to your strategy as well as a bit more of a random element.  I still think that the game probably plays best with 4 or 5 people, as the chances of you knowing what your opponents have in their hands as well as having a card come back into your hand are both lowered. As a result, decisions have a much higher importance and urgency.

Maybe I'll invest in some sleeves for the cards - the cards at my old workplace appeared to wear out quite easily and I've started seeing some slight damage to the edges of the cards in my set.  :(

Zombicide!

A few weeks ago, Zombicide, a boardgame Kickstarter project done by Cool Mini Or Not and Guillotine Games came in the mail.  I've played it a few times with different groups of people, and I think it's safe to say that it's a pretty decent boardgame with a heavy miniatures component.

The rules were pretty simple to grasp, and it took my players on average maybe 1 more game beyond the tutorial to get into the rhythm of the game.  If anything, players sometimes asked if they could do some more complicated things!  After playing with different numbers of players, it seems like an ideal group of people would be 4+ players.  I've tried it with 3, and it just wasn't as fun.  With more people involved, coming up with strategies and just laughing about the game in general took on a life of its own. Scenario wise, I think the game could have done better with a more continuous narrative campaign instead of a collection of standalones.  It would have also been cooler if the characters who have died via zombie could come back as zombies somehow, as getting killed off early left players feeling bored... Letting them move the zombies and pulling out encounter cards alleviates this somewhat, but some of my players would have liked the option to come back a turn or two later and try and hinder the players still left alive.

Character wise, there's a good variety of them and although some abilities may see kinda lame or stupid at first, but when used in the right situations it could actually be of great use to the team.  I think as the owner of the game, the most annoying aspect of playing is the setup and takedown.  There are so many pieces and miniatures, the game cries out for a better storage solution.  Some small ziplock bags should have been included to keep pieces sorted, and people complained about the excessive packaging used for the special heroes that came as a Kickstarter bonus.

All in all, it's a pretty good co-op multiplayer game,  Once the game is set up, the rounds go by pretty quickly, and before you know it a couple of hours pass by and many zombies get killed before you know it.  I give this game 3.5 chainsaws out of 5.

Once in a blue moon...

<Steps out of TARDIS>

Well, sorry about that.  I've been somewhat lax in updating for awhile... <coughs as he looks at the date of last post from 2011>  :)

I suppose I'll continue where I left off with updates on whatever happens to tickle my fancy!

New additions to the 317th Arborealis Regiment 

Over the last year I've been busy with my miniatures so a couple of interesting squads have been added in the meantime for my beloved 317th Arborealis Regiment...

Arrrr!

Another view

Female Officers

Wark!! Chocobos!

"Canadian" veteran unit

Baneblade 1: "Ursula"

Baneblade 2: "Dauntless"

Not-Kerrigan

Quite happy with how they all turned out!  I don't win much on the field usually but it's still fun to play and play against.  Next up, probably some more veterans and another Valkyrie/Vendetta for my upcoming FoodHammer list. 

The Last Story:  Last swan song for the Wii?

 

I've also been playing through The Last Story for the Wii.  A work of the creator of Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game shows off its creator's Final Fantasy origins quite well.  In fact, I would argue too well.  Playing through the game's story, I got a very strong sense of deja vu.  Not only are all your usual JRPG tropes alive and well in the Last Story's universe, but at times I felt that Sakaguchi-san had unfortunately cut and pasted whole sections from various Final Fantasy games... Indeed, without getting into spoilers, you will know what I mean when certain plot devices and points and settings are essentially identical.  As much of a fan as I am of Final Fantasy, it was somewhat disappointing when I saw this - I liked the games these sections come from, but I would have preferred a more original experience!

Graphically, the Wii's lack of power shows.  After playing contemporary RPGS on the PC and the other consoles, The Last Story's graphics looked a lot more square and jagged in comparison.  For a Wii game though, it looked pretty good although the massive slowdowns and blurry textures overlaid with garish colours for magic circles during combat got annoying very quickly. 

Combat was fun, but a bit lacklustre in depth and 3rd person aiming felt clunky and gimmicky.  Unfortunately, the game had a tendency to pull me out of the experience when it comes to levelling.  I did not feel too challenged for most of the game, and instead of random encounters to grind your characters, frequently there were instead summoning circles that only required the player to stand in them and press a button to spawn enemies, as often as you like to grind for loot or XP.  You could use these summoning circles an unlimited amount of times, and although occasionally a stronger mob of monsters would spawn, they were usually a bunch of pushovers that gave an inordinate amount of XP that made you sometimes level up 3 levels in one go!  I suppose Mistwalker had intended on getting players to focus on the story instead of combat a bit more,but by unintentionally making combat so trivial and optional, a lot of the "meat", sense of urgency, and danger had inadvertently been removed.

Adding to the disappointment, the game was not as free-roaming as I would have liked - in fact many dungeons were pretty linear although the main town in the game was sufficiently large enough to sate my exploration urges. 

Still though, Nobuo Uematsu does an excellent job as usual with the soundtrack that manages to be both epic and modern yet distinct from his previous Final Fantasy work.  And the voice acting is hilarious!

All in all, I give this game a rating of 3 out of 5 story volumes.  A solid work given the limitations of the Wii's hardware, but I am left with the feeling that the game could have been so much more.

Astronomi-con complete, and Tabletop Fix blog

Astro has finished for this year.  Wow, what an experience.  I'd say that most of the armies there were quite well painted, and with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 players, very casual and fun to play against.  Overall, I think I'm quite happy with the event and will probably show up next year, with a few minor tweaks.  I'm going to aim for making a proper display tray for my army in the meantime.  :)

Also, check out the Tabletop Fix blog.  They're pretty much amongst the top few tabletop wargaming blogs that I check out on a daily basis.  As you can see, I've put up a banner to participate in their contest.  :P

Astronomi-con

Astronomi-con is a 2 day Warhammer 40k tournament held in various cities across North America, and Vancouver happens to be one of them.  First time there, and it was a blast.  Some really great armies were on display, and some great games were played.  Can't wait for Day 2!

Fantasy Flight Games announces DUST Warfare

Found on Tabletop Fix
All I can say is, sweet!  I love alternate history stuff, and WW2 is no exception.  Giant mechs with WW2 weapons?  Bring it on!  :)

Chimeras done!

Well, it took a long time but I'm finally done with my Chimeras for Astronomi-con.  My list hasn't been finalized yet, but I'll probably bring at least 2 of these.  Armour plates were fun to do, and it was a great exercise on learning about molds and casting.  Kind of wished the washes went on better but I'm very happy with the end result, nevertheless!

A Game of Thrones

Started reading the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, by George R. R. Martin.  Extremely well written and engaging, if not a bit... explicit, in a few parts.  ^_^;;  Very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series, and it will be an excellent excuse to purchase the miniatures from Dark Sword Miniatures.  :)

Mech Goodness

A nice surprise showed up in the mail today - a squad of 3 Light Assault Walkers from Micropanzer (32mm scale).  Can't wait to put it together!  Strangely enough, the parts seem to be made up of 3 types of material - some light plastic, resin, and metal. Will be using them as stand-ins for Sentinels in my IG army for fun.

Terraclips - Streets of Malifaux preview

For those of you who play Malifaux or 28mm wargames in general, there's been a review posted on Gamer's Lounge a couple of weeks ago about the upcoming Terraclips - Streets of Malifaux set (think modular, cardstock, wargaming terrain held together by small plastic clips).  Been thinking of cost-effective, lightweight, modular terrain to use for 40k, and since this series is in 28mm and also appropriately "grimdark" it might just fit the bill.  The company that makes this, WorldWorksGames, also produces their own proprietary cardstock terrain called TerrainLinx, which supposedly is compatible with the new Terraclips stuff.  Definitely worth considering!  If anyone out there has any other suggestions for low cost (but nice looking terrain) that won't break the bank and promotes modularity (i.e. Dave Graffam's stuff), please feel free to mention them too!

Truth

Some humour courtesy of Ryan McGechaen inspired by our discussion of LA Noire the other day :

 Well played, Ryan.  :P

In the girm darkness of the future, there is only grimdark humour

Spotted on the DakkaDakka forums in a thread about pre-made gameboards and Games Workshop's offering, the Realm of Battle Board:

"There's a difference between grimdark and farce. If I wanted skulls, I'd add them myself in a way that actually makes sense, not as a rich vein of cranium."

Yup, that pretty much sums it up:

I guess in Warhammer (both Fantasy and 40k) skulls are a dime a dozen if you can just mine them from the ground like that... ^_^;;

WIP IG Chimera w/extra armour skirts

Just spent the evening putting together one of several Chimeras that I'll use for my army, the Arborealis 317th Regiment.  Track guards are from Forgeworld, but the armour skirts themselves were inspired by a Forgeworld design.  I used plasticard sheets with a tile pattern for the reactive panels.  The panels were then molded in silicone rubber and then I made resin casts of them, and mounted them on a plasticard beam assembly.  The assembly was then magnetized so that I could remove the armour when the scenario doesn't call for it.  Had lots of fun making this, but obviously still lots of touchups to be made, not to mention the paint job.  ^_^;;  Fun times!

Hello World

Standard first attempt message goes here.  Like mold on food, perhaps this blog will grow on its own.  :)