The gods are in your favor tonight!

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Or at least you hope they are if you’re playing Olympus.  Fantasy Flight‘s new Greek mythology-themed board game, Olympus, lives in the shadow of the god’s apartment complex.  Three to five players fight to curry favor with the gods by strategically placing priests into key cities.  But these priests aren’t just praying for the heck of it, they want to out build all the other cities and priests.  And if you want to build, wage war, or unleash pestilence, you gotta have the high and mighties in your back pocket.

Smeagol loves his new precious.  His new Lords of Middle-Earth expansion.

You too can be like Smeagol, too (not in the creepy, hairless, emaciated part), but in the loving the first War of the Ring expansion.  The miniatures included in this box set, including Elrond, Galadriel, Smeagol, Gothmog, the Balrog, Aragorn, Gandalf the White, and alternate versions of the Witch-king and the Mouth of Sauron, which represent characters mentioned in the base game’s event cards.  Special action dice are also included, being Elven Ring Keepers for the Free Peoples players and Lesser Minion dice for the Shadow player.  And finally, alternate versions of the Companions of the Fellowship of the Ring so that you can play the “Council of Rivendell” rules.

The Romulan Empire is invading and the Fleet Captains have to stop them.  The Romulan Empire expansion for Star Trek Fleet Captains primarily introduces a brand new Mission type, being Espionage, which allows players the ability to sneak Romulan Saboteurs onto opponents ships.  The materials also extend the head-to-head play to head-to-head-to-head.  And if you’re wondering exactly what those materials are, they are 100 command cards, 10 encounter cards, 10 hex tiles, and Romulan game tokens and command posts.

Building off of Psionics Unleashed, Psionics Expanded does exactly as the title indicates, containing pages of expansive materials.  These include alternate racial options, six new 20-level psionic base classes, advanced class options, tons of psionic and metapsionic feats, powers for all manifesters, nine new prestige classes, and a plethora of armor, weapons, and items.  And, of course, the entire book is 100% Pathfinder and OG 3.5 compatible.  I’ve already read your mind and know you can’t resist.

Stretching the limit of the letter Q, Quarriors: Quest for the Qladiator is the freshly minted expansion set to the only dice-based deck building game, Quarriors.  Providing 100% historically accurate (based on made-up history) new creatures (6), new spells (2), and custom dice (40).  On top of all that swag, the box also contains new Lock rules and a special card storage system.

It is not a marriage.  It is not an illusion.  It is not some elaborate trick on our part.  

Mice and Mystics is finally here.

As this is one of the only board games which comes with a short novel describing the back story of the game, I won’t spoil too much of the narrative.  However, I will say, players control valiant knights who have transformed themselves into tiny mice in order to traverse their king’s invaded castle.  A cooperative adventure game, Mice and Mystics, pits up to four brave players against the most terrifying microscopic creatures around, like cockroaches, rats, spiders, and Brodie the vicious housecat.  As nothing about any of the preceding sentences was anything less than awesome, I think you’ll all be wanting a copy of this game.

 

We’ve practically had to fight off the descending hoards of rabid Quarriors fans this week in anticipation the new expansion.

Well, we’re still alive and Quarmageddon is here. This new add-on expansion for the base game offers not only 40 original dice which power 6 new creatures, a new immunity ability, and 2 new spells, but an entirely new set of rules to be applied to the game. And if Quarriors is an insane made up word to you, because, one, it is, and, two, you’ve never played the game, it’s deck building with dice combined with a fair amount of snark.

Bandai takes the skills it acquired developing their hit Resident Evil Deck Building Game and apply them to another popular gaming franchise, Uncharted. In the Uncharted card/board game players take on the role of characters from throughout the three existing Uncharted games. While collecting and battling against various action, treasure, and enemy cards, players acquire victory points, eventually leading to a winner. Borrowing elements from the Resident Evil games, Uncharted spins them in a fresh way, recreating the feel of the video games.

It’s that time again, the time when Dungeons & Dragons adds a new edition to their vast mansion of tiled dungeons. This time around Wizards presents them in a stunning Urban Underdark hue, coming with six sheets of flooring material for to add a layer of cozy, dank creepiness to your next campaign.

What game through yonder RPG breaks? Or something like that.

The works of The Bard (that’s Shakespeare to you uncouth individuals) have been applied to a witty, brilliant new Indy storytelling game called The Play’s the Thing. Similar to Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and Fiasco, The Play’s the Thing revolves around a playwright/actor structure where one gamer takes on the role of the playwright, assigning roles and constructing the story. Each actor (Hams, Leads, Villains, and Ingenues) suggest and act out alterations to the story as they play through, often altering classic tales for the wackier.

Queen Games keeps their streak of inventive strategy games going with Edo. Set in the Japan landscape of 1603 to 1868. Each player takes on the role of a Daimyo, building houses and castles, trading goods, and increasing their reputation to the Shogun. Beautifully laid out and designed, Edo should find a good home next to your copies of Samarkand and Fresco.

Bad guys have all the fun. Luckily, you can get in on all the Hobbit murdering shenanigans of Sauron’s Nazgul in the new Lord of the Rings: Nazgul Heroclix game. Taking on the role of the hooded riders, players build allegiances, strategize, and, ultimately, keep the One Ring from falling into the pits of Mount Doom. And, if you own the previously released LotR Heroclix, you can incorporate them into the game.

 

Black Friday is not a day for words, but for action.  In that spirit, here is the least wordy edition of New Game Stuff you will ever run across.

Game Mastery has deposited in our laps two new wonderful accessory products.  First being the Magic Academy Map Pack.  It’s maps for the Magic Academy, nothing more to say.

Second is the Warehouse Flipmat.  Again, self explanatory.

Also on the quick mention list is the new Small World: Tunnels mini-expansion.  This allows you to combine the boards for Small World and Small World Underground.  But you will have had to purchase a copy of either game at the store to get it.

Super Dungeon Explore is happy good time fun!  Amendment to that last part: especially if you’re an avid fan of 8-bit games and dungeon crawling.

Combining the two, Super Dungeon Explore has players selecting a party (like from a video game select screen) then exploring a multi-roomed dungeon collecting treasures and bashing monsters.  Coming with some absolutely snazzy looking cartoony miniatures, if you’ve got two or more players, this game will supply a good time.

Thinking about getting into Warmachine?  Well, much in line with the Assault on Black Reach box for Warhammer or the Beginner Box for Pathfinder, the new Two-Player Battle Box has everything you’ll need for two folks to get into the game.  That “everything” includes a rules primer, dice, ruler, and 17 miniatures between the Khador and Protectorate of Menoth factions, along with their stat cards.

Put your elves, dwarfs, and gnomes to work in the worker placement game known as Belfort.  This quaint fantasy burg needs some reconstruction, which luckily each of the previously mentioned creatures are uniquely able to provide.  Gnomes can run the city, dwarfs can supply wood, while combinations of these guys can result in other point-earning activities.  From Tasty Minstrel Games (makers of Martian Dice), who have been producing some addictive games of late, Belfort could be considered a Carcassonne on crack.

Heading back to the world of Warmachine, the new Hordes: Domination rulebook brings the new freshness.  Including new rules and information on warlocks, the Hordes saga, and new Theme Forces.  Keep pace with the cool kids and pick up a book!

Speaking of books containing dark, deadly, bleakness, here’s the new Deathwatch: First Foundry hardcover.  This book contains a lot of nines.  Nine Space Marine Loyalist chapters.  Nine Traitor Legions as well.  There’s also four chapters left out of the previous Deathwatch editions.  Futuristic pessimism has never looked so good.

Finally, we end on the first expansion for the popular Quarriors! dice/deck building game.  Rise of the Demons introduces 20 new dice and the corruption mechanic (think curse cards in Dominion) where players attempt to clog up their opponents dice bags with a bunch of useless corruption dice.  It’s on now, peoples!

 

City folk don’t know how ta tussle with vampires, no sir.  Y’all best come on down to Blood Country, learn yo’self how ta stake’em and bake’em.

That right there is the idea behind the newest expansion for the popular deck building game, Nighfall.  Nightfall: Blood Country contains 168 blood-soaked cards (note: cards are not actually drenched in blood; the aforementioned statement was for effect only) that introduce new vampires, werewolves, hunters, ghouls, and special powers for all your scratching and staking needs.  Plus, the quaint little box they come in has a set of tidy, decorated dividers that allow the game’s owner to separate all of their cards into one, easy-to-transfer box.  Y’all come bite now, ya hear?

Serious question time:  how long have you wanted to play dwarfs as a primary force in Battlelore?  Part two of that question:  how long have you wanted to play dwarfs that can ride on bears, in general?  Whether the amount is a day to twelve years, the newest Battlelore expansion set allows players to do both.  Bearded Brave is a Dwarven Army Pack that contains 40 dwarf figures that can be used in conjunction with units from the core to give players the ability of running a Dwarven army.  Now to the part about the bears.  Not only to these figures add the new Mighty Bolt Throwing units, but also the Dwarven Bear Riders.  Dwarfs.  On bears.  All over it.

You wouldn’t walk out of a riveting movie during the final act, would you?  Okay, maybe if there’s a fire.  Or an obnoxious jerk on their cell phone.  Or an obnoxious fire on their cell phone.  Whatever the case, Thunderstone:  Heart of Doom has no fires or cellphones (or, at least, no real ones anyway), but is most definitely the final act of the Thunderstone saga.  Capitalizing on the roleplaying allusions present in the game, this expansion is the culmination of the “campaign” that has been building since the beginning of the game series.  As such, Heart of Doom expands on the base game with new hero, village, and monster cards to aid players in working through the final, unique scenario to defeat the ultimate evil known only as Doom.

MERCS goes nuclear today!  Literally.  That level of atomic insanity is due to the new Keizai Waza faction.  These advance play style figurines come equipped with a tiny nuclear device embedded in their armor, which makes them a difficult faction to master.  If you haven’t picked up on it yet, the Keizai Waza are not made for players just getting into MERCS.  Not only does it take some careful timing and coordination to activate the nuke, but you also have to have your accuracy down to a careful degree once you do activate it.  If you’ve been looking to add a new level of challenge to your MERCS experience, level up and try the Keizai Waza.

So, the monkey has a knife, the room is filled with hornets, and you’re being covered in chocolate syrup while your buddy loads a bazooka next to you.  Most would consider this scenario a Fiasco, which is exactly why these are the kind of insane combinations that arise in the newest RPG from Jason Morningstar.  From personal experience, I can safely say this is a brilliant recipe for a good time!  Fiasco is constructed in such a way that whatever your players’ level of experience, they will be able to devour this game and end with a happy belly.  Basically, everyone involved picks a particular “world” to play in (these can include 30′s New York, the old west, gangsta London, etc.), assigns a name to their character, then picks random-ish elements that tie characters together and give them goals.  The rest of the game progresses as a movie, with players trading off “scenes” until they reach the climax.  I dare you to play through a game of Fiasco and not collapse to the ground in a fit of laughter.

Continuing with the RPG-centric falling action of this post, lets move on to Part-Time Gods.  A new setting from designer Eloy Lasanta, Part-Time Gods creates a mystical world of fantasy and adventure for the philosophical D&D player.  Player’s search for various relics and artifacts on their mystical quest to balance their soul.  Sounds deep, right?  That’s ’cause it is.  Each character begins as a normal being who is granted the abilities of a god.  As the adage goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Or maybe it doesn’t, that is the choice you have to make.  Which way will you go?

Halloween’s on the horizon so the creepy, crawly campaign settings are coming out of the Lovecraftian woodwork.  This particular Cthulhuian booklet is called Realms of Crawling Chaos.  A campaign supplement for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion, this booklet introduces new races, from Lovecraft’s sordid universe, such as white apes, sea blood, and subhumans, along with new spells, monsters, artifacts (plus a system for designing artifacts), and rules for psionics.  Now you know what you’re doing for Halloween (unless you want to play in our Call of Cthulhu game).

And now to round out this riveting romp, here’s a little segment we’ll be calling Restock Roundup!

These include:

-Arcana Revised card game

-Lord of the Rings LCG Adventure Packs (ALL OF THEM!!!!)

-Rare Earth Magnets

-Family Business

-Quarriors! (sweet, sweet Quarriors!)

 

And by “special” this week translates as “late”.

What isn’t late, but, in fact, early is the freshly returned from Gen Con roleplaying game set in the universe of The Hobbit, The One Ring.  From Cubicle Seven, this new hardcover slipcase contains the first set of core rulebooks in what will become an expansive Tolkien-based roleplaying system.  Taking place five years after the events of The Hobbit, the Adventurer’s Book and Loremaster’s Book (both contained within) grant players and GMs the ability to create and explore the world of Wilderland.  The system received a hefty amount of buzz at Gen Con this year for being a rare Tolkien universe RPG that actually works.  And possibly the best part, if you enjoy the game there are plans to release future expansions that will push the timeline forward, eventually leading to the events of Lord of the Rings.  Oh, and one last thing, if you pre-order with Pulp or purchase one of the copies we currently have in the store (hurry or they’ll be gone!), you gain the option to pick up a promo world map for ten bucks!

When Cthulhu comes calling you can expect it to be a gloomy occasion.  That might be why Atlas Games decided to add a new version of the popular Gloom series to the shelves called Cthulhu Gloom.  As with the regular game, players attempt to maim, massacre, and murder their helpless human cards with whatever tools they have at their disposal.  Here those tools become the madness and insanity of the creepy crawlies that oozed from Lovecraft’s brain.  Opponents can also stall opponents murder spree by keeping their human cards alive with “happiness” and “joy”.  If your sense of humor errs toward the darker and demented, Cthulhu Gloom with have you cackling all night.

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya, laddies.  Set in the ancient countryside of merry ole Ireland, in Hibernia players battle to occupy specifically colored regions of the country.  Around the perimeter of the board is a colored track that leads to victory if you follow the order carefully.  Put those two elements together and you realize the strategy of the game is occupying colored regions in a coordinated manner so that you can make it around the track before anyone else.

Coming from the same game designers is Cambria.  Still focusing on the concept of occupation, Cambria has players swatting the Roman legions out of Britannia by surrounding and destroying their forts.  Each fort is given a number between 1 and 6, which coordinates with a D6 that players will roll.  Depending on the numbers, they will then place colored wooden markers on roads leading up to a fort with the same markings.  Once a fort has been surrounded, points are distributed to the player who did the most, uh, surrounding.

The deck building trend of the last couple of years receives an infusion of freshness with Wizkids hit game from Gen Con, Quarriors!.  That freshness comes in the form of dice and, boy howdy, are there are ton of them.  130 of them, to be exact, are contained within the stylish tin box the base game comes in.  Much like Dominion or Ascension, a set of cards is laid out in the center of the table.  What differs here is that players will not purchase the cards, but dice that are sitting next to them.  All a player’s dice are kept in one of the four silk dice bags that come with the game and used (depending on which one of the six sides/abilities was rolled) to either purchase more dice, reroll dice, or attack opponent’s creatures.  A beautifully designed, highly replayable game, Quarriors! is the love child of Dominion, Magic the Gathering, and Zombie Dice.  Also, for those who love free stuff, Pulp has a limited number of promo card sets that you get when you purchase a copy of the game.

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