New Game Stuff (10/28/2011)

With Innistrad Game Day only a day away, people may be grasping for a deck to play.  Well, look no further than the brand spanking new Innistrad Event Decks.

Always released two at a time, the Event Decks are made for competitive tournament play coming completely built (60 cards, 15 card sideboard) and ready to squash opponents.

This time around the decks are Hold the Line and Deathfed.  The former being white-centric and the latter being blue, black, and green-centric.  Both contain desired cards, as well, for the player who just needs a quick and easy way to obtain what they’re looking for.  For instance, Oblivion Ring, Champion of the Parish, Elite Inquisitor, and Hinterland Harbor.

And also, since these are the catch all of Magic products, they work perfectly for players who are just getting into the game and/or are needing a deck for their first constructed experience. 

You’ve played the Last Night on Earths, the Zombies!, and the Zombie Dices of the world, but here’s the zombie tale to show them how it’s done.  Yes, fellow survivors, The Walking Dead has become a board game.  Specifically The Walking Dead television show (the comic game comes later this year), this game is about survival.  You play characters from the show (represented by detailed character cards) on the search for supplies and safe haven, but beware, you can become a walker!  Proclaimed as a unique blend of cooperative and competitive play (as players can choose to team up or back stab), the game challenges people to make the tough decisions of who lives and who dies as supplies diminish while demand increases.

A little like Monopoly 1880′s, Homesteaders second edition is about building a boom town.  From Tasty Minstrel Games (the birthers of the popular Martian Dice), players spend resources to construct buildings, which, in turn, will provide their owner with money, special abilities, and points.  The player who has built the largest portion of the town by the end of ten rounds finds themselves the winner.  

Yee-haw, get’ter buildin’, pardner!

Never have dice caused such destruction!  Dark Minions is a game that encompasses those scenes in Lord of the Rings where that massive hoard of orks, goblins, and, I don’t know, accountants maybe, descend upon a castle or some such stony fortress.  Gamers control an assortment of 50 dice, each representing a slimy ransacker of towns.  And that, no surprise, is what you will be doing.  Choosing between storming a town, demolishing a tower, or bringing the dead back to life.  And if that ain’t enough, the game also includes an advanced mode that includes overlords who deal insane damage when they are called into play.

Like a treasure chest hidden deep in a dragon-guarded cavern, the new Pathfinder Beginner Box has everything you could ever want.  Borrowing the Red Box concept from D&D, Pathfinder has created a simple, one-stop product that can introduce and teach players about the Pathfinder system.  This little gem has within its sturdy confines a Hero’s Handbook (describing all the essentials of play), a Game Master’s Guide (basics of running an adventure), a complete set of dice, a map, character markers, and pre-built character sheets with hints in the margins about what each stat and section represents.  If you want to take a sneak peek into all these wonderfully helpful contents, stop by the store and examine our demo copy.

Speaking of Pathfinder goodness, it’s worth mentioning that two new books shipped this week, one a campaign setting, the other a player companion.  First is Lands of Linnorm Kings which details all the essential elements of the the viking’s home world.  Second would be Faiths of Corruption, a guide to the evil-aligned religions and faiths of the universe along with their adjoining rules and abilities.

Always a good night when you can end on familial murder and deceit.

And so we come to the Tourney for the Hand Chapter Pack, the start of a new chapter in the Game of Thrones LCG.  If you’re unfamiliar, Fantasy Flight‘s assortment of Living Card Games begin with a base game then expand through individual, non-random chapter packs.  These packs are then grouped into assortments of five or six, representing a “book”.  Thus, you can see why Game of Thrones would be a perfect property to attach such a mechanic to.  Anyway, Tourney for the Hand begins the Tales of Champions “book”, giving players sixty new cards to incorporate into their game.