Who doesn’t want a tiny version of themselves?  What about a tiny version of yourself in your Pathfinder game?

If you’re an avid player or a beginner (especially if you’ve picked up the Beginner Box) this set of four miniatures, each representing a core class (Cleric, Wizard, Fighter, and Rogue), can come in mighty handy as a distinct way to distinguish your character on the map.  Each character has been carefully painted and crafted so that they are easily recognizable.  Be our hero and pick up a copy of the Beginner Box Heroes.

Moving from tiny to giant, if you always thought your copy of Cthulhu Dice was fun but not quite big enough, Steve Jackson has a solution for you.  Springing from the Giant Foam Cthulhu Dice demos displayed at conventions, you too can have your own 4″ wide, foam Cthulhu Die in one of four colors.  Regardless of the size, the game plays exactly the same as its smaller counterpart, except for a new bracelet substitute for the sanity chits.  Also safe to throw at fellow players without causing permanent damage!

While we’re on the whole dice topic, how about something for the hunting buff in your family?  How about a Trophy Buck?  Yuuup, Steve Jackson has done zombies, Cthulhu, and now hunting.  Structured similarly to Zombie Dice, Trophy Buck is a set of 12 dice that players take turns rolling to see if they can nab the most deer.  The dice have various symbols that indicate different amounts of deer as well as deer tracks, ultimately leading players to the decision of whether to continue hunting or stop so that you don’t scare the deer away.  Plus, you get a swanky camo dice bag!

For those more interested in the storytelling sensibilities of roleplaying, the dice-less system of Nobilis releases its 3rd edition today. Set in an anime-esque world where half-human, half-god spirits live in an ethereal world around ours, Nobilis: The Essentials is the core rulebook for any prospective player.  Within this beautiful slipcase edition you’ll find all the information about creating characters and dealing with all their godly abilities.  Designed by Jenna Katerin Moran, any crossover fan of anime and roleplaying needs to give this a go.

The Dead Marshes may not be the most relaxing place to take a vacation, but, as far as the Lord of the Rings LCG is concerned, they’re pretty dang awesome.  Yes, the newest Adventure Pack for the LotR LCG core set, Dead Marshes contains 60 new cards (that is cards 95-115 of the Shadows of Mirkwood cycle) to be incorporated into your base game.  

Supplanting famous Internet sensation webcomic, Axe Cop, onto the equally popular card game, Munchkin, Steve Jackson has created Munchkin Axe Cop.  Didn’t see that name coming.  As you might imagine, there is lots of chopping and lots of stuff taking.  Taking characters from the comic and turning them into cards, Munchkin Axe Cop allows you to play Axe Cop‘s partners, the Dinosaur Soldiers and Sockarang, along with battling infamous baddies like Giant Robot Zombie and Dr. Stinky Head.  As the webcomic is based off the writings of a five year old boy, one cannot comprehend the insanity hidden in this box until they have purchased it, chopped it open with an axe, and blown it to bits with their awesomeness.

 

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!)

 

Master of puppets
I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams

-Metallica

Never doubt the foresight of James Hetfield, because he completely called the premise of the new Malifaux-related game, Puppet Wars.  Spun out of the dark, patchwork themes present in Malifaux, Puppet Wars is a two to four player miniature based battle game.  Each player gathers their army of puppets around one central “puppet master” (see where the Metallica mention comes from?) who controls them in attempts to protect their master and destroy their enemy.  The base game set comes with all the materials for two players to dive into play immediately, but various booster packs allow players to add other puppet miniatures to their army and/or alter the game to support up to four players.  If you’re looking to get into a miniature game that doesn’t break the bank nor require a ton of purchases just to build a basic army, Puppet Wars will twist your mind but keep your dreams nice and cozy.

I think it’s written in the book of life somewhere that if you come across someone who carries a pair of swords that they’ve given names to, you need to run the opposite direction.  Such is the case with the new Tannhauser miniature pack for Mizu Kage.  Working for the Shogunate or Reich teams, Mizu is in the assassin department either way, as she is extremely talented at using her swords, Willow and Winding Stream, to, let’s say, diminish the competition.  Mizu‘s box o’ goodness comes complete with the mini, the character sheet, 12 game tokens, 10 equipment cards, a rulebook, and a dedicated scenario.  Or if slinky ninja assassins ain’t your speed, you can try hulking Itami.  Again playable with both Shogunate and Reich teams, Itami is chock full of mysterious magic, which is exactly what his special scenario focuses on.  He too comes with all the regular bells and whistles any Tannhauser miniature pack supplies.

The new Battle Pack for Warhammer Invasion has been dubbed The Inevitable City.  One might think that this title has something to do with the city setting for this first chapter in the Capital Cycle, but I’m going to suggest that it actually has to do with the inevitable butt kicking that players who purchase this pack will give their opponents.  Specifically, players who favor the Chaos faction, as half of the sixty cards held within it are associated with Ruinous Powers.

How would you feel if there was no Return of the Jedi?  Or Last Crusade?  Or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?  I think I’d feel a little incomplete.  Which is exactly the way you should feel if you’ve picked up all the first two books in the Rogue Trader RPG trilogy from Games Workshop and haven’t yet picked up the third, and final, book, Fallen Suns.  Capping off the series, Fallen Suns includes all the contents you will need to finish off your party’s final adventures as they attempt to save the Koronus Expanse while defeating the Faceless Lord.  If you haven’t yet started the trilogy, what are you waiting for?!

If you’ve ever gotten drunk over a gaming session and suggested a combination of Starcraft and Pitch Car then laughed and laughed and laughed because it sounds crazy, you have been proven wrong.  That is because Z-Man Games has found a way to combine the two.  Maybe they too drink and design.  Anyway, Ascending Empires is the Frankenstein-ed game in question, set in a universe where the Earth has been destroyed and humanity has expanded far out into the stars hoping to find sanctuary.  It is from this starting point that players enter the game.  From each of the four corners of the board, players flick ships out among the various planet tokens scattered across the universe, hoping to land in their orbit so they may build colonies, develop technologies, mine, or enact other such actions.  As usual, players gain points by complete each of these actions (all of which are explained on a handy-dandy cheat card).  An inventive combination of play methods, Ascending Empires offers a unique gaming experience, to be sure.

And the hope that you flick a token into an opponent’s eye.

 

Writing a website post in the middle of a gigantic Magic the Gathering Pre-Release event is kind of like juggling chainsaws while being barraged with sharks fired from cannons.  Okay, it’s not exactly like that, but close.

Either way, I have Magic on the brain.  And the only way to get rid of it is to tell you fine peoples about the new Magic accessories we received this week.  First off there are the new sleeves and deck boxes that coincide with the new Innistrad set.  These include a Liliana Vess deck box and sleeves as well as a regular Innistrad box and sleeves emblazoned with some shadowy wolves.  Along with that, though, there is a rainbow of leather mana deck boxes.  These babies are sweet as they are sturdier than most deck boxes while also having magnetically sealing lids.

As a recent comic stated brilliantly, when there’s a problem, throw dragons at it.  That’s not to say that there is a problem with the fourth edition of Talisman, but it’s always proper to toss dragons about.  And so Fantasy Flight has dubbed their newest expansion, The Dragon.  Inside its hefty packaging are all the pieces to add the Inner Region to your next Talisman experience.  These pieces include over 170 cards, 160 tokens, a rule book, and six plastic figures.  If you guessed that one of the figures is a dragon-related, you win a prize.

If I had a million dollars and was in the market for a spacey mansion, I do not think I would go much further than a tour on the Mansion of Madness.  Each to their own, though.  Especially because most would say that they love playing Mansion of Madness, the Arkham Horror offshoot.  And they’ll say that even louder if they get their hands on the new Season of the Witch and Silver Tablet expansions.  These are print on demand scenario expansions, so very, very, very (did I mention very?) limited expansions.  They both give players an original single-scenario and all the pieces to play it.  And they are a lot cheaper than a million dollars!

There are a bunch of sci-fi RPGs nowadays, but how many of them have gun-totting locust people?  One:  Ashen Stars.  Set in a rough and rowdy universe known as The Bleed, games put players in the role of a unit of freelance space cops settling disputes, chasing baddies, and blowing lots o’ stuff up.  There are seven different, detailed races to choose from, including the kch-thk which are the locusts I mentioned at the beginning.  This hardcover also contains all sorts of information on vehicles and NPC threats.

Do you have the next big game idea?  Okay, say you do, do you know how to design it and then get people to buy it?  There’s a good chance that’ll be a “no”.  For those creative people out there Open Design has just printed The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design.  This nifty pocket-sized edition has entries from some of the top creators today, including Steve Jackson, Richard Garfield, and James Ernest.  Broken into easy to navigate chapters on concepting, design, development, and presentation this should be on the desk of every self-respecting hopeful designer out there.

The Warhammer 40K RPG universe gets much bigger this week with the new Black Crusade hardcover.  It also gets much darker.  Much darker.  Inside players find the instructions on how to make either a Chaos Space Marine or a Disciple of Chaos gunning to bring down the Imperium.  As the book is about 400 pages long, rules for just about every possible situation, be it combat or conversational, are held within.  And instead of dropping you in headfirst, the book offers up a complete adventure for beginners.  Shipping along with Black Crusade this week is the related Game Master’s Kit.  If you’re running a game in the world, you’ll want to have the screen for quick reference of NPCs, base rules, and helpful advice.

Fiction log, stardate 9242011.  A new Star Trek board game has appeared on deck.  The crew has fallen into its trap of epic space battles spread across an, as to this point, undiscovered region of space.  They have selected their sides, being Federation or Klingon, and are currently deploying ships from twelve popular models as strategically as possible so as to defeat rival ships, complete scientific missions, and solve various other obstacles.  This game, Star Trek:  Fleet Captains, not only covers the original Star Trek universe, but Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.  Personal note:  having loved the recent Star Trek Expeditions game from Wizkids and knowing that this is from the same company, has weakened my own resistance, eventually resulting in an out pouring of nerdom.

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