Tonight you’re all getting a two-fer, the chocolate and peanut butter, the Bert and Ernie, the Penn and Teller of Comic List Highlights. Because not only are you receiving highlights of comics, but games, too (mostly because we didn’t have time to write a post last night).

To start things off, lets recite the oath: In brightest day, in blackest night… Yup, the first hardcover collection of the New 52 Green Lantern comes out Wednesday. Easily one of the best ongoing series of the relaunch, Green Lantern has focused more on Sinestro than regular protagonist Hal Jordan, which has enlivened the book. And the reason for the shift in hero is due to Sinestro being allowed to wield the ring again, while Hal cools his jets on Earth. Until, that is, Sinestro comes a’knockin’. Geoff Johns has been writing some of the best Green Lantern stories ever since he got on the book around eight years ago, but this new volume offers a perfect jumping on point for anyone who’s wanted to read up on the character.

Keeping the superhero/comic base at a boil, but mixing in a smidge of gaming, next up is the second volume of Mutants and Masterminds DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains. As the first volume contained all characters ranging from A to K, this second edition picks up with L and runs it all the way to Z. That means you’re going to get classic characters like Lex Luthor, Superman, and Plastic Man, plus icon teams like the Justice League and the Secret Six. Offering gamers a shortcut into the DC Universe, these volumes contain all the stats, histories, and information you’ll need to BAM BIFF POW your way through the DCU.

Re-releasing in a new swanky graphic novel collection is BOOM Studio‘s 7 Psychopaths. A greater hook has never been created: what do you do when you want to kill Hitler and end WWII? Send in seven of the worst human beings ever to hunt down and murder the bastich. Of course, not everything always goes as planned. A grim, gritty spy series with artwork from exceptional Criminal and Incognito artist, Sean Phillips, 7 Psychopaths makes for a great, moody read.

As deck building games boldly go where no game has gone before they reach the Star Trek the Next Generation game. Using the base premise of deck building developed in games like Ascension, Dominion, and Resident Evil, Star Trek puts players into the role of a star ship captain, commanding their meager crew toward victory. Do you recruit further crewmen? Develop your ship’s equipment? Conquer worlds or make peace with them? These are the choices you will need to make in either the base version of the game or its Next Phase expansion. Both are stand alone and both go boldly yadda yadda blah blah.

 

Because we enjoy torturing our customers here at Pulp Fiction, allow me to wave some slick Warhammer 40K miniatures in front of your face then inform you they won’t be on sale until tomorrow.

Yeah, sorry about that.

However, if you are swinging by tomorrow you should look into the new Space Wolves and Necron miniatures for 40K. These include a Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf, Fenrisian Wolf Pack, the Thunderwolf Cavalry, and the new Tyranid Tyrannofex/Tervigon.

Showing its Dungeons & Dragons roots, Thunderstone Advance goes on sale today. Some folks out there may find that surprising to hear because the game isn’t officially scheduled for release until later in the month, but Pulp is allowed to sell the game early as a pre-release benefit. This redesign of the game refines many of the previous version’s elements. Mostly, the game works overtime to give players as many options to tailor their experience as they please. A new two-sided board lets players select the level of difficulty they wish to play as do the new monster card levels. If you’ve never gotten into the game before, but are a fan of D&D and/or Dominion, this is the time to start playing.

Triple the Dominion, triple the fun.

Following in the footsteps of Alhambra and CarcassonneDominion now has its own Big Box edition coming packed with three versions of the now classic deck building game. Those three versions, by the way, are AlchemyProsperity, and the original, base Dominion game. If you’ve never gotten into this hit card game, this is a great way to purchase three of excellent versions of the game for a cheaper price.

Today we also received a restock on some Indy RPGs that need a little love and affection. First up is Umlaut: Game of Metal, a storytelling, GM-less game akin to Fiasco where players create their own heavy metal groups then chart their rise to the top of the heap. On the darker side of things are Hot War and Cold City. Hot War is set after an apocalyptic Cold War-era nuclear barrage, giving gamers a setting of horrific violence and power-jockeying survivors to explore. Cold City is a companion volume set in Berlin after the terrors of WWII. Players command the Reserve Police Agency as they round up monstrous creatures risen from the ashes of the war.

 

Not sure about you, but there’s nothing better to do on a New Years Eve than venture across fantasty landscape, battle creatures, overtake towers, and become the most powerful warrior in the land. Or maybe drink a lot. Or you can always combine both.

In that effort, we present the new Mage Knight board game from WizKids. Expanding on the original Mage Knight miniature game, this board game offering forms the adventure around the player as they choose what to attack, what spells to develop, and what dungeons to raid. Based on these actions players gain or lose fame, loot, and acclaim as the most praised Mage Knight in the land. Taking place over three rounds of night and day, players adventure with one of four knights, balancing their action deck with their adventure choices.

And what would that night be without a dragon or two?

The new Dungeon Petz (a stand alone spin-off of Dungeon Lords) can supply just those kind of creatures. At heart a worker placement game, Dungeon Petz involves opponents strategically positioning workers in hopes of breeding, feeding, and selling the most exotic assortment of fantasy beasties know to imp kind. Supplied with humorously cartoony artwork and finely crafted pieces from Z-Man games, Dungeon Petz should make every happy. Except PETA, those guys are never happy about anything involving animals.

If you’re one of the folks who favor Ascension over Dominion (or if you like both) you might prick your ears up to hear about the new Ascension: Storm of Souls expansion/game. That / is in the previous sentence because this bad boy does not need to be combined with the base game. So, when you pick up Storm of Souls (as I’m sure you all will), you’ll be getting a completlely stand-alone game filled with new mechnics previously unavailable in the other Ascension editions. Namely, these come in the form of new Event Cards which alter the rules of the game as you play. And if you’ve got up to six players, you may as well combine it with base Ascension for more god fighting action.

 

If you find yourself needing to sprinkle a little Munchkin cheer into the stocking of your special someone, then the new Fairy Dust Dice are your best option. Other than its general glitteriness, this special dice set is sprinkle-worthy for the four exclusive promo cards it contains alongside its two D6′s. And like most other Munchkin expansion stuff, you can combine these cards with the base set, the previous Fairy Deck, or any other Munchkin game you are so inclined to play with. Now that’s some holiday cheer!

If that sounds a bit too effeminate for your grizzled uncle (or aunt; no judgement here), then maybe the new Memoir ’44 Campaign Book Volume 2 will light all the right fires. Picking up where the previous volume left off, volume 2 continues to create scenarios (forty six, in fact) that build off of each other, effecting the game during your next play. Along with the new scenarios the collection also includes 50 punchboard tokens, advanced campaign rules, and new special events that contain information for battles across the Pacific all the way to the frontlines of Germany. So, if you’ve got that wargame loving relative in your clan, put a big smile on their face this season with a new Campaign Book.

Still not dark and grizzled enough for you? Okay, then I’m afraid I’m going to have to pull out the big guns.

That’s right, the new Mansions of Madness: Forbidden Alchemy expansion. Adding on to the Lovecraftian exploration game that’s half-RPG, half-board game, Forbidden Alchemy expands on the dark twisted adventure with loads of new gruesome swag. Included within that heading are not just cards and tokens and things, but all new monster and investigator miniatures. As with the base game, they are beautifully detailed. But don’t let them take away from the over 150 new cards and tokens. That’s new mythos, trauma, and combat cards, folks, along with map tiles, horror tokens, and puzzle pieces. If you’ve survived the slithery, slimy things of the first Mansions of Madness and are ready for round two, Forbidden Alchemy shouldn’t stay forbidden for long.

More of a restock than a new item, but, by golly, it just needs mentioning. From the creator of Dominion (if you don’t know what that is, for shame!), Kingdom Builder brings a similar satisfaction as games like Carcassonne, Samarkand, and Small World, in that it’s a middle skill level game that the whole family can learn and master. Players compete against each other through the strategic building of settlements across a large, hex-filled board. Building adjacent to certain locations (i.e. lakes) gains a player more points. But the rub comes in that building is controlled by sets of cards that players hold in their hands and place on their turn. Each game is different, though, as players select random board pieces and cards at the start of a session. If you’ve played Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne to the breaking point, give Kingdom Builder a try.

 

Claim your dominion over the hinterlands by picking up Dominion: Hinterlands!

The newest expansion to the popular deck building game, Dominion: Hinterlands adds twenty-six new cards to the game.  As each expansion set has a theme to them, Hinterlands focuses on cards that give immediate satisfaction by enacting actions the moment you buy them or receive them.

A personal sidenote, regular customer Eric J. Carter created artwork for a number of cards in this set (building off his card from Dominion: Prosperity), so show him some love and pick up a copy.

Are you a refined individual?

Do you like the premium things in life?  Well, Magic the Gathering has the deck for you.  The new Graveborn Premium All-Foil Deck is a pre-built theme deck constructed around zombies, resurrection, and the undead.  With cards like Entomb, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, and Animate Dead, all foils mind you, this sucker’s a force to be reckoned with.

That and, with cards going for around $40 right now, it worth a crap ton of money.  So, even if you don’t want to play the deck, you might find it worth your while to pick up a copy, sit on it, and sell it off for a mint price later.

Speaking of collectible card games, what’s more collectible than the game where you gotta catch’em all?  Yes, Poke fans, we received an new booster box of the most recent Pokemon booster set, Black & White: Noble Victories this past Wednesday.  This set should be noted for a couple of reasons.  One, this is the third set in the Black & White trilogy, two, it introduces new Restored Pokemon cards, and, three, contains the only Rare Ultra Trainer Card ever.

As they should always be mentioned in the same breath (and I know some people will want to kill me after saying that), it should be noted that we also have a new booster box of Yu-Gi-Oh: Photon Shockwave.  Let the CCG rivalry begin!

Of course, the logical place to go after Pokemon is zombies.  Hey, that new set does have a Restored Pokemon card, so it’s not too much of a stretch.

Anyway, it has been a year since Outbreak: Undead made its way onto the indy RPG scene.  In that time, the creators of the game have released a slew of content on their website.  The new Outbreak: Undead Annual volume 1 collects all these expansive supplements, including new missions, horror traits, zombies, and One Big Monsters.

Joining the few and far between collection of co-operative play games in the world, Panic Station might be one of the first to throw horror into the mix.  Set in a futuristic base where an alien threat has broken loose, players have to work together to find the alien hive and destroy it.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Wrong.  Within the group of four to six players will be an infected member who must keep their identity secret as they slowly and purposefully infect the other players, attempting to thwart the humans’ mission altogether.

If you’re looking for a paranoia-filled version of Forbidden Island, this very well might it.

If you’re looking for a pre-generated adventure for you tenth level character in Pathfinder, the new Forest of Spirits can offer it to you.  Containing the aforementioned adventure, crafted by Richard Prett, a mysterious study of the kami, protectors of the forest, crafted by Mike Shel, an equivalent look into the Minkai by Jesse Benner, along with a crap ton of other info on Oda’s gambling house, monsters, and geisha’s.

Let your war banner fly with the new Runewars: Banners of War expansion.

Containing eight new unit types (that’s two for each faction, folks), new development cards that allow you to improve existing units as well as gain faction-specific abilities, and the Commanders of the Battlefield variant that lets you assign certain heroes to lead your forces, this is an expansion to be reckoned with.

Seriously, I saw it knock a dude out the moment it popped out of the shipping box.  

You’ve got your banner, you’ve got your premium deck, and you’re headed to the Hinterlands, but have you got your ticket?

That’s okay, because the new Ticket to Ride: Asia is in stock.  This expansion (you’ll need the base game or Ticket to Ride: Europe to play) supplies two entirely new boards for play.  One being the Team Asia board where players compete against each other in teams as they build railways across greater Asia.  The second is Legendary Asia, which offers easier routes, but beware the mountain routes.  If you’re looking for a way to alter your experience with one of the best board games ever, then board the train and settle down for the journey.

© 2012 Pulp Fiction Comics & Games Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha