Close, close in a gaming store not so far away…

STAR WARS CARD SLEEVES!!!!!

Yes, hum the theme song in your head if you must. Fantasy Flight has released an exceptional limited run of specialty Star Wars backed card sleeves. So, play Magic with the man who shot first or catch’em all with Lord Vader or throw them on any other card game that needs some sci-fi spice. But whatever you do, pick them up before an X-Wing comes along and vaporizes them because there will not be any prequels here.

Of course, if space battles and laser swords aren’t your thing, maybe the other limited edition Lord of the Rings sleeves will be. Slip them over your favorite standard sized cards to give them a Samwise Gamgee to their Frodo Baggins. Or grasp the One Ring to rule all other swag-less individuals. Whatever you choose, wield them responsibly.

You want to kick your Warhammer Fantasy RPG game up to level 4? How about level 5? Then let Hero’s Call be Fantasy’s version of the Spinal Tap speaker! Chocked full of new hero and GM options for careers, action cards, talents, spells, and region options, this player’s resource is loaded with must-have ingredients for kicking your game up a couple levels.

Bringing Cthulhu to the deck-building party, Penny Arcade: Rumble in R’Lyeh is both a standalone game and an expansion for last year’s Penny Arcade: The Game, Gamers vs. Evil! So, players can enjoy Eldar God gaming goodness in the base 2-4 player version of the game or combine it with the previous game for excessive nerd overload. Rumble in R’Lyeh specifically adds Gold cards to the gameplay, which must be acquired through the use of Token and Power cards. Totally worth it when they have names like Gunhorse (a horse made of guns, duh!), Sad Zombie, and Gabe’s Gross Mouth.

Bridging books and board games, the Where the Wild Things Are board game from the Tales to Play series, lets families take control of Max’s journey to the land of the Wild Things. Each player controls a different Max miniature game piece on his trek through the becoming king of the Wild Things. Players draw cards and roll dice to decide their success or failure across the illustrated game board. Great gameplay and Wild Thing miniatures for the whole family.

Gamers have been waiting for this next exapnsion since somewhere around the dawn of man. Yes,  has finally arrived. Adding not only a fifth player ability to the game, but a new item dubbed decoration. Players may now trade their resources for this item in an effort to gain further points. Club someone if you have too, fight a t-rex, do whatever you have to for a copy of this valued expansion.

 

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.

© 2013 Pulp Fiction Comics & Games Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha