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The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls - Card Game Review

The Binding of Isaac is a hugely successful videogame, and thanks to two extremely lucrative crowdfunding efforts that netted around $8 million, you could argue that its a highly successful card game as well. The videogame fits almost too perfectly into begin turned into cardboard, with its roguelike genetics being suited to the randomness of dungeon crawler, variable bonuses and and player powers sitting well within the tabletop realm. There's around eighty thousand people who have some kind of variation of the tabletop game. So surely its extremely good because well funded games are always amazing, aren't they.  I'm approaching this as someone who is away from the hype canoe sailing down the river rapids of marketing and excitement and so this is probably going to be dull in comparison. I'm also someone who is a fan of the game, and has spent many an hour running around randomly generated dungeons of blood and filth.  For those unfamiliar with the videogame, you play

Gladiatores Blood For Roses - Kickstarter First Thoughts

With the blood pounding through my ears and my vision dazed and confused, I check my bearings once again, ready to strike my hands down and make my mark. With one question burning in my head, I look towards the sun, sweat dripping slightly from my brow. And that question is a simple one.. When you are asked to give your first thoughts on a game about Gladiatorial combat, is it against the law to not start the piece without some kind of combat reference? Should I be asking if you are entertained? Should you clap after reading this? Should I be getting on with piece? Probably yes.   So let’s start with something that might get a thumbs down and the crowd baying. The combat mechanics in most of the games I’ve played are rather slow and long. This is down to you normally having to deal with the consequences of that one attack and that one attack only. Tension gives way to rounds and everyone being polite and taking their turn. It’s almost civilised in its nature. You backup your char

Tabletop Scotland - We Went a Wandering...

Friendly, Busy, But Never Overcrowded.. I’m in the unusual position that I first heard about Tabletop Scotland long before the Media Coverage and press releases hit, as I’ve known David, Simon and John for the last three years, as they are regular attendees at the local gaming club I go to in Dunfermline (DWARF). We’ve played some games together and in fact both Dave and John were guests on the podcast in the past. It was really interesting to hear the snippets of information as the planning progressed. The excitement of reaching 250 ticket sales and the nervousness of how far it would climb before the big day. How much of the Dewar Centre was going to be taken up by cardboard? and the proud moments when the partnerships were announced tentatively. In the background was always whispers of ‘this is going to happen isn’t it?’ As the days rolled ever onwards and the ticket sales increased, the next question that arose was ‘I hope this is good’. And not meant in a way to be cruel but more

Dice Summoners - Decking Awesome Games - Kickstarter First Thoughts

So with the combination of several melee and magical attacks that were achieved on the back of a rather lucky dice roll I removed the last of Ciara’s Hit Points. I raised my arms in a V and cheered out loud, so those gathered around in the hall would have no doubt that I achieved a fantastic victory. I’m a hell of a sore winner, gloater and the type of person who believes that there is nothing better in victory than reminding your opponent that you did indeed win. Especially when it is one of the architects of the game itself. And where better than in front of a crowd? That however is not the reason that I like Dice Summoners. One of the things that struck me was the simplicity and purity of the core mechanics, so that when Simon from Tabletop Scotland asked me what I thought of the game, I wasn’t only able to give him a grin and exclaim once again I had won, but I was able to in a period of less than five minutes explain to them how to play the game. That to me is a GOOD THING.

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island 2nd Edition - Solo review - Steve Mcgillivray

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island places players on a deserted island, shipwrecked there and in dire need of food and shelter. Here I'll talk about Solo mode using the beginner scenario Castaway, which is a great introduction to the game. The game is played over 12 rounds, with the aim being to build a log pile and light a fire to signal a passing ship. The ship is scheduled to pass on rounds 10, 11 and 12 so time is of the essence. To further complicate matters, the woodpile must be added to only once per turn, prior to the Action phase, adding another level of complexity and difficulty. This isn't even taking into account the day to day task of actually surviving, which can be very challenging. Each round is comprised of 6 phases. The Event (skipped in round 1), Morale, Production, Action, Weather and Night phases. The Action phase is, unsurprisingly, where most of the key decisions are made. Do you explore your new home and seek ou

MYnd Kraft by Tharini Rajamohan - First Thoughts

MYnd Kraft by Tharini Rajamohan is a more of a games system then an actual game, combining some basic programming knowledge in order to create a series of mini games that can be expanded upon and even altered to increase or decrease the difficulty. Look on it as something similar to what Bez did with Wibbell ++ or Karen Rubins achieved with Comic Turns, both of which are brilliant fun in their own right and continue to offer additional hours of entertainment as you experiment and explore with the foundations provided in their respective core sets. Let us start with the encouraging first observation that you can sit down and know the basics of how MYnd Kraft works in little under four minutes, regardless of how much or little programming knowledge that you have, and that if you can’t tell your switch from your loop, or your function from your data structure then worry not, as the instruction booklet is laid out in a clear series of tables that explain exactly how each of the card

Unreserved - Physis Games - Some First Thoughts

"Oh and next up we have Physis Game’s auction type game, Unreserved. We’ll start the bidding on £3 to get us going... And that’s £4 with you madam? Now who’ll give me £5..?” You might imagine that in the voice of David Dickinson, but in truth, he’s never actually held a gavel anytime I saw him. He was never mechanically that important, just the cheeky glue that held the entire show together and made the contestants feel at home. The auction themselves only got exciting when you get one of those hidden gems that shoots off like an unexpected firework, causing everyone to run and hide and a bidding war to kick off. The truth of the matter is that most of the auctions are straightforward affairs and normally either end up slightly above the asking price, or at worse a touch below, leaving the contestant running away with winnings in the region of tens of pounds instead of a fortune. It’s the anticipation of the ‘hidden gem’ being found that compels us to continue watching as oppose

Ruthless Card Game Preview - First Thoughts - Iain McAllister

This Review is based of a first playthrough of the game at UK Games Expo. I do not own it, though have pre-ordered, and have not read the rulebook. Arr matey that be a fine deckbuilder that you have there. Be a real shame if some plucky young game set sails on the choppy seas of game releases and blew a hole in your bloated side, making off with all the best loot and leaving you with naught but an accordion playing parrot and a memory of how good you used to have it. Ruthless folk would do that to you and those scurvy dogs from Alley Cat Games might be the crew to carry it off. Now get up in that crow's nest and see if we can't tell which way the wind is blowing. Cards are final, components are not and it will not come with metal coins. But it’s already a damn fine looking game Batten Down the Hatches!! Deckbuilding has become a rather overused mechanic in the last few years, being forced into every genre under the sun. I’ll admit that it does lend a sense of replayabil

Pandemic 2nd Edition Board Game Review – Matt Leacock/Z-Man Games - Steve Mcgillivray

The first idea we had of a major catastrophe was when we had reports of simultaneous outbreaks of several virulent viral infections. The Indian sub-continent, Western Europe and Africa were hit especially hard in the early days. Medical services in Rome, Delhi and Johannesburg were reporting mass casualties and medical services in danger of collapsing under the pressure. As we at the CDC began mobilising to tackle this problem, reports started coming in of infections showing up in every continent across the globe including right here in the United States. We had to move quickly as our computer simulations did not pain a rosy future for humanity. We were looking at the end of civilisation as we know it, and possible extinction. From the CDC headquarters here in Atlanta, I was tasked with pulling together a team and getting them into the field as quickly as possible to tackle these outbreaks head on. I pulled in the leading experts across a number of fields – engineers, IT and logist

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