Hey, hey, hey!
We played a lot of games and have little time to review them all, so this week and next, we’ll be publishing more game reviews than usual, giving you the skinny on what we played over last weekend.
Let’s start with two games that aren’t even out yet: Samurai Spirit and Krash Karts.
We’ll have two more reviews tomorrow and even more over the weekend.
Sorry, but while I’m excited for Omaha’s gaming convention, I’m not going to break out in rhyme.
Nuke-Con isn’t nearly the same size event as Gen-Con in Indianapolis, but it’s not too shabby for Omaha’s own gaming convention. There are a lot of products to sample and booths to visit, but here are some of the games JK Geekly plans to playtest over the next three days and nights.
Friday Night
Bang!
Yes. It’s a slightly older title—heck, there’s even an iOS version of this popular wild, Wild West shoot ‘em up game—but there isn’t that much going on Friday night. We’ll be checking in, gaining our bearings and sampling some of the games that aren’t on the menu. I’m still looking forward to a good old fashioned show down with Bang!
Saturday Morning
Cubist
A new title produced by Gryphon Games, Cubist has players building their own modern art museums. The concept may sound a bit dull, but the colorful design, easy to learn rules, and quick gameplay have garnered strong reviews. Bring on the help of Juan Gris, Franz Marc, and Olga Rozanova.
7 Wonders
7 Wonders may not be a new title (released originally in 2010), but let’s hope they have some of the newer expansions like Babel, which was released earlier this year. Players control an ancient civilization and try to construct wonders of the world—one of my favorite aspects of the Civilization video game series.
Saturday Afternoon
Samurai Spirit
Personally, this is one of the new games I’m looking forward to the most. Designed by France’s own Antoine Bauza, who views himself as a compulsive board game designer, old-fashion book lover, and lazy writer, Samurai Spirit marks another entry in Bauza’s wonderful line of cooperative board games. This game borrows from Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai—in fact there can be up to seven participants—and has the players take on the responsibilities of a team of samurai sworn to protect a village from marauders.
Krash Karts
Another new title, designer Sean Dallas McDonald revamps Mad Rush Rally with this Kickstarter funded tile placement game. Descriptions of this game have it mimicking the classic Mario Kart video game series. Let’s see if Krash Karts can measure up.
Sunday Morning
Legendary: Villains – Marvel Deck Building Game
The latest entry in the Marvel Deck Building Game, Villains features everyone’s favorite Marvel villains from Magneto to Green Goblin. While the main game received mostly favorable reviews two years ago, this year’s Villains expansion has had its early critics. Still, I can’t wait to get behind Doc Doom’s mask.
Sunday Afternoon
A Study in Emerald
I’ll be upfront with this one. There may be a slight scheduling conflict between this game and the Marvel deck building game. Villains ends thirty minutes after this game begins, so I hope the demo for Villains lets out early—thirty minutes early to be exact—and I’ll try to make this a deck building two-step. A Study in Emerald takes its name and subject matter from the Neil Gaiman short story of the same name. The story follows Sherlock Holmes doing his thing in the world of H.P. Lovecraft.
DC Deck Building Game
If I can make A Study in Emerald, I’ll still be able to make the DC Deck Building Game and therefore make a back-to-back-to-back deck building romp of JK geekiest proportions. While the Marvel deck building game sticks to major expansions, the DC Deck building game mixes in some smaller expansions: Crisis Expansions (I can’t wait for a Zero Hour expansion—jk), individual character expansions, and rivals like Batman versus the Joker. I’m not sure how many of these expansions—large and small—will find their way on the table on Sunday, but any expansions they give us will spice up gameplay. I haven’t played much of either comic book based deck building game, so I’ll be playing each one with a fairly blank slate.
So, we have eight games on the docket. These are by no means the only ones at Nuke-Con. They’re the only ones that have scheduled demos. I’ll have a list of the games I’ll be looking for on the trade tables. Maybe we can sneak a demo or two of those, too.
Four more hours until Omaha’s first Marvel Dice Masters tournament at the Game Shoppe. It’ll be a sealed tournament so some dice carry more value than others and more value than they normally would.
Yes. We’re hoping for rares and super rares in our haul–the rarer the card the more likely the die will have a lower cost and better ability–but there are two common dice/card combos we should mention, especially for sealed play: Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) and Green Goblin (Goblin Lord).
As the text on his card suggests, Ghost Rider has no special effects. He just has good stats for a cheap price (2 energy), which is key during a sealed tournament. A cheaper cost means you have several options per turn. If you roll into nothing but energy, you can purchase two Ghost Riders in one turn or you could purchase a Ghost Rider and a cheap action.
The common Green Goblin costs more (3 energy) than Ghost Rider, but his ability makes up the difference. He buffs (increases the stats of) the Sidekick characters you have in play, and sidekicks don’t cost any energy. You get enough of the small fries in play, and your opponents are toast.
Of course these two dice/card combos won’t be as good when compared to a dice pool you can create ahead of tournament time: a constructed pool tournament. You’ll have a lot more great combos at your disposal. But for tonight’s sealed tournament, we’re looking for these two commons to go with our uncommons, rares, and super rares.
We’ve had a chance to play this game, and it’s a tasty blend of Quarriors! and Magic: the Gathering. But some of the powers don’t make a lot of sense for the character’s who own them. Why is Mr. Fantastic the defensive member of the Fantastic Four? Shouldn’t that be the Invisible Woman with her force fields? Why’s Wolverine throwing cars? Where are you Colossus? Still, Marvel Dice Masters is worth a look.
We’ll have a full Marvel Dice Masters review Early next month. Until then, keep rolling.
Just picked up my starter packs of Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers Vs. X-Men. They were on back order for the past few months, but now I can see how the Marvel/Quarriors amalgam plays tonight.
Hey All,
The last time Bruno Cathala teamed up with Days of Wonder resulted in Shadows over Camelot, a phenomenal game worthy of all the game of the year awards it won. Cathala has a strong following and his fans have been waiting for his foray in the worker management game genre. The wait is over. Five Tribes is out.
While we can’t wait to review Cathala’s and Days of Wonder’s latest, we have several games in the queue ahead of Five Tribes. We’ll have that review in the next few weeks.
jkgeekly.com 