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.

 

So, here it is Friday again and time for another New Game Stuff post.

Whoa, what?

Fridays are Comic List Highlights, not New Game Stuff!  What’s happening!  My world’s crumbling!  My brain is melting!  Fire is raining from the skies!  MAKE IT STOP!  MAKE IT STOP!

Whew, okay, ready to go.  Yes, you can now expect Fridays to be home to the New Game Stuff posts while Saturdays will become Comic List Highlights.

And for the inaugural gaming item, a new supply to one of our favorite deck building games, Resident Evil.  If you haven’t played it, the Resident Evil Deck Building Game is akin to Dominion and Ascension, featuring a play style centered around selective purchasing and playing of cards.  Anyway, the official playmats for the game are now in stock.  That’s playmats with original game art on them as well as designated spaces for key cards in the game, like the mansion, ammunition cards, combat knife, and handgun.

Oh, ‘ello, chappy.  Are you a discerning Arkham Horror player?  Ah, yes, I can see that.  Well, then you surely have a collection of Litko Game Accessories Arkham Horror compatible accoutrements?  Oh, you don’t!  I wouldn’t spread that around town, if I were you.  It’s okay, though, because we can provide assistance.  In that I mean, Pulp only today received a vast assortment of various markers, tokens, and bases to accompany the game.  These include Iron Gate Markers (able to display in-game iron gate tokens), tentacled Monster Bases (also helpful to display monster tokens), as well as larger, transparent blue Sealed Gate Tokens (improve the small sealed gate tokens that come with the game), among other niceties.  Improve your horror experience, gents and ladies, improve it.

Are you ready for a Blood Bowl!  A Friday night Blood Bowl!  

Ehhhh, too soon?  You don’t have to be Bocephus (actually, you’d probably prefer not to be) to enjoy a the new card game from the makers of Blood Bowl, Team Manger.  Basically the original game in card form, Team Manager runs two to four players through a season of the hard hittingest, blood spillingest, bone crunchingest game ever, as they battle over players, train their team, and via for fans on top of playing each other.  If it hasn’t occurred to you, the fitting pun here is fantasy football as your player options are dwarfs, elves, orcs, and the like.  Lets just say, Hank Williams, Jr.’s recent comments may actually be appreciated in this game.

Summoner Wars enacts their master plan this week by dropping not only a Master Set edition, but two new Reinforcement Decks, Goodwin’s Blade and Hawk’s Strike.  Unlike in the game, you don’t have to use mystical forces to call forth these packs of warrior-y might.  But if you do use the magic of your wallet, you might find some dangerous allies at your finger tips.  For instance, the Hawk’s Strike pack expands upon the Jungle Elves and Cloaks factions while Goodwin’s Blade expands Vanguards and Fallen Kingdoms.  But maybe the most valued of these three is the new Master Set.  Unlike what you might think when you hear that phrase, the Master Set provides six entirely new faction decks!  Not only is this enough to start a prospective player off on the game, but a premium game board is also included, giving players a perfect setting to play their game.

 

Movies are lying to you.

They tell you that if you plan on breaking into a vault you’re going to need a crew of twelve or so people, an array of tools, and a carefully coordinated plan.  In fact, all you need to do is come up to Pulp Fiction and pick up the new From the Vault:  Legends collection.

Any of you familiar with Magic the Gathering know that Wizards of the Coast has been releasing From the Vault collections fairly regularly lately and that they always contain fifteen of the most sought after cards in existence.  The other staple of the Vault collections is an overarching theme between all the cards.  As you may have noticed, this time that theme is Legends, so all the cards are legendary creatures.  These include: (and for those of you not interested in Magic, this is the time to tune out) Sharum the Hegemon, Teferi Mage of Zhalfir, Kresh the Bloodbraided, Progenitus, Mikaeus the Lunarch, Cao Cao Lord of Wei, Oona Queen of the Fae, Doran the Siege Tower, Captain Sisay, Ulamog the Infinite Gyre, Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker, Visara the Dreadful, Rafiq of the Many, Sun Quan Lor of Wu, and Omnath Locus of Mana.  Okay, listing over.

Okay, you’ve got miniature terrain.  And you’ve got clips.  What if you put them together?  Terraclips.  Technically created for the Malifaux miniatures game, these 3D terrain pieces could easily be used for any number of miniature games.  The initially released sets include sewers, streets, and buildings, all of which are made of thick, durable cardstock that is cut to carefully fit together with the help of grey connector pieces.  Above all else, though, every piece is interchangeable so you can design your own layered environment design.  They’ve got me saying, “Clip it, clip it real good”.

But I’m an idiot.

Last week we talked about Chaostle, along with some other dungeon crawl games, but this week there’s a new sheriff in town.  And the name is Catacombs.  The reason that this twist on the classic dungeon crawl format so easily dispatched all other contenders is that you play it by flicking little wooden tiles!  Come on, when have you ever played a dungeon crawl game where you flick stuff at stuff?!  Never, that’s when.  As a two to five player game, Catacombs has one player controlling all the monsters while everyone else battles against them.  Each of the sixty-eight tiles are stickered to represent a different hero or creature, so everyone flicks these at each other until the ultimate dungeon overlord is defeated.  Obviously, there’s more to it than that, but my attention was grabbed at the phrase “flick your wizard fireball tile at the dragon tile”.

Fantasy Flight gets in on the deck building craze of recent years with Rune Age, a competitive, scenario-driven game set in the universe of Runebound, Descent, and Dragonquest.  After picking the scenario (each comes with different end goals, cards, and other alterations) all of the two to four players wish to take on they then choose which race they want to represent.  From there play generally works similarly to Dominion, except for one minor alteration:  certain sets of cards can only be played/purchased by certain factions.  Basically, everyone shares from a pool of general cards while also buying from unique card pools that only they can use.  Should be another solid edition to the long (by this point, anyway) tradition of deck building games.

We’ve had Smurfs.  We’ve had Street Fighters.  Now, Green Lantern gets in on the action with the new Green Lantern Heroclix gravity feed.  Rules is simple:  ten different kinds of figures, one per pack, collect’em all.  What more do you need?  Oh, yeah, a picture.

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