Monday 30 June 2014

Polar Panic!

This weekend we have been play testing a new game idea from Black Box call Polar Panic!


I think that most people that played it thought it was pretty good, my children included. It is very simple game, very easy to learn, does not take long to play and can be played currently with upto 7 players!

If you did not get a chance to play then I will be bringing the prototype along to Tuesday and Friday nights at the George. If you did play the please let me know what you thought and an ideas you have that could make it better.

Friday 27 June 2014

X Wing Wave 4 - Ready for Battle!

New X-Wing Miniature in and ready to do combat ...

Z-95 Headhunter

In many ways, the Z-95 Headhunter was the precursor to the X-wing. Though the Z-95 was later outclassed by the X-wing in most respects, it could perform a tighter turn and was cheap, durable, and reliable enough that the Rebel Alliance continued to make use of it throughout the Galactic Civil War, most commonly in close air support roles.

The Z-95 Headhunter enters X-Wing as the Rebel starfighter with the lowest squad point cost. None of the four ship cards in the Z-95 Headhunter Expansion Pack weigh in at more than nineteen squad points, and at just twelve points, the Bandit Squadron Pilot ties the Imperial’s Academy Pilot as the starfighter with the game’s lowest point cost value. However, the Z-95 Headhunter isn’t designed to fly like a TIE fighter; it comes, instead, with the focus and target lock actions, as well as the ability to load and fire a missile.

Accordingly, the Z-95 Headhunter Expansion Pack comes with two missile upgrades, the Assault Missiles and the deadly Ion Pulse Missiles.


TIE Defender

When it was first released shortly before the Battle of Endor, the TIE defender was perhaps the most technologically advanced starfighter in the galaxy. It improved upon the design of the TIE fighter by adding shields, a hyperdrive, and more powerful weaponry.

In X-Wing, the TIE defender is a lethal starfighter that features three attack, three agility, three hull, and three shields. Imperial players can further load it up with both cannon and missile upgrades, and because only the Empire’s most elite pilots were allowed to fly the TIE defender during the Galatic Civil War, both of the unique pilots among the expansion’s four ship cards come with the elite talent upgrade.


E-Wing

When it was designed, the E-wing was intended to match or exceed the performance of the X-wing in every respect, and the E-Wing Expansion Pack for X-Wing introduces a starfighter that combines the best of the X-wing’s firepower and durability with the A-wing’s speed and maneuverability.

Furthermore, the E-wing’s advanced technology is reflected in the fact that it can equip both system and astromech upgrades alongside a complement of torpedoes. The partnership of these upgrades permit some interesting, new combinations, and the E-wing may open some wildly creative squad builds.

For example, by partnering R7-T1 with Advanced Sensors on a ship piloted by someone like Etahn A’baht, who is capable of using Push the Limit*, you could perform three actions before you reveal your maneuver. And if that maneuver is green, Etahn A’baht would even end his Activation phase without a stress token!


TIE Phantom

By adding a stygium crystal cloaking device to a modified V38 assault fighter that came equipped with both deflector shields and a hyperdrive, the developers of the TIE phantom created one of the most menacing starfighters in the galaxy!

The TIE Phantom Expansion Pack brings this fearsome fighter to life with new rules for cloaking that allow it to slip off opponents’ sensors in the middle of battle. Imperial players will be able to further customize their phantoms with system and crew upgrades, so the Rebellion will never know what to expect.


All of these are on sale NOW and can be purchased at one of our events or on our website ... http://kidsdream9.wix.com/kd-games#!board-games/c23ov

Thursday 26 June 2014

New X-Wing Models

More details on these tomorrow, but just so that you can get ready to place your orders - I will be receiving stock of these great new X-Wing models tomorrow (Friday). They will go onto the website tomorrow mornign and I will be bringing some along to KD Magic Night as well!

Lords of War Interview


Recently Martin from Black Box has done an interview with GMS Magazine which is a pretty interesting listen ...

Lords of War Campaign Continues ...

On Tuesday we had another round of the Lords of War Campaign. It was great to get a couple of extra players and good to see a win for Mike in his first ever game!

The format is working really well and although we have made a couple of minor changes to the deck building part it does seem to be something that we will definately do again! Many thanks to everyone that has helped so far!

This week we saw the Elves on the Dwarves in what was a long and hard battle! The game progressed with both general being quite causious until that is night fell. In the carniage that happen following that event the Elves really went on the attack and the Dwarf army could not recover! The final score was 27/21 to the Elves but a really close game!

In the other game the Orcs had a much harder time of it failing to make the most of there aggressive nature and allowed the Lizardmen to control the game eventually winning 29/16.

After the battles the map looked like this ...


The elves tried to expand there dominance by making an early challenge but had to regroup to defend the region controlled by Eridia Lifius which was attacked by the Lizardmen in an attempt to control to Elf invasion, by waiting for nightfall the battle could be very swift and maybe take the Erendril Aegis of guard. Elsewhere the Orcs will fight the Dwarfs in attempt to rebuild there assault on Krondor.

The next rounds will be played this weekend at Gambit Games so if your interested in being involved please let me know!

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Be part of something new!

Over the weekend, I have been luck enough to talk to Black Box Games about some of the exciting ideas for there game Lords of War. I have also been given some ideas for new games that they are thinking of releasing.

One of those games is set on ICE, you play the part of an explorer trying to survive as you are hunted by a polar bear on ice that is beginning to melt in to the ocean. So far it is in the very early testing phase and I only have a paper version that has not seen much play. If you would like to be part of the testing of this very simple little game then let me know as I plan to bring it along tonight!


There are quite a few ideas on the horizon from Black Box and we will hopefully be bringing some more games along soon including some expansion ideas for Lords of War!

Monday 23 June 2014

What a Great Weekend!

I must send out a big thank you to Nick and Martin at Black Box games for inviting me along to Germany this weekend to demonstrate 'Lords of War'

It was a long trip but and experience that I remember for a long time! Firstly the venue was simply amazing with a great view of the Rhine! The people were amongst the friendliest I have ever met and the reception that the game received was overhelming!


I would presoally like to thank everyone that played this weekend for making it such a positive experience and the welcome that I received. In addition some of the game I played were amongst the most challenging and fun to play that I have ever had! I woould also like to say a big thankyou to Heidelberger for hosting the event and inviting us in the first place!

It was a truely amazing couple of days and a great oportunity to explore what could be next for Lords of War and all I can say at the moment is there are some pretty great things on the horizon!

I though I would share a couple of pictures with you from the weekend ...









Friday 20 June 2014

A quick trip to Germany for the weekend!

This weekend I have the prevelige of join Nick from Black Box on a trip to Heidelburg in Germany for a board gaming weekend...


Its an 8 1/2hour trip each way but I am sure it will be worth it! I will try an blog some information whilst I am there or if time does not allow I will do it on Monday!

Clix@KD Games


From next week on a Friday South Coast Hero Clix will be running events at the Royal George along side our existing KD Magic Night. 

The games for the first week will be 400pts Theme Teams. This is the default for all games at The George, so if people fancy dropping by at the last minute they know what to bring. 

This is a chance to play the lesser seen teams - so please try to stay away from the bigger names (I think we all need a break from X-Men and Avengers) but apart from that - no other restrictions. Oh, NO resources - but apart from THAT - no other restrictions. £3 entry

Thursday 19 June 2014

Lords of War Campaign - Update

We have started our test run of the new Lords of War campaign rules and to make things easier whilst we are in this testing phase we are just going to ask players to join in where they can and take on an army for a few games! The more players that can get involved the better so if your interested please speak to Will or myself!


This week we managed to get things started and elected to use the first four tribal decks (as none of these have moving units!) Priority was worked out and initial challenges made. 

The Lizardmen and Elf armies were first up starting the battle in a monsoon on a battlefield almost spilt in half by a river! The Elves started strong and starting claiming enemy units and soon hit 5 kills! The weather stayed unchanged for sometime and it was not until the Elves lost a couple of command cards that the two generals started to look for just the right conditions to storm ahead! Eventually the Elves won the day 23 points to 20 (A really close game!)

The next battle was Dwarfs vs Orcs which was a much more even matched affair at the start both armies getting to 5 kills with 1 command kill to there names with both generals on the battlefield! Then the battle turned in the favour of the Orcs and the quickly claimed the 3 other commander kills to win the battle 14 points to 11!

Both the Elves and the Orcs claimed there new territories and with 5 points for winning their battles the scores after round one were...

The Elves 28 points
The Lizardmen 20 points
The Orcs 19 points
The Dwarfs 11 points

The to find out who had priority for the next round 20 points for each region controlled were added on making the priority Elves, Orcs, Lizardmen and Dwarfs! All players will now get the chance to change there deck lists ready for the next round and after new challenges the map looks like this...


The Orcs will face the Lizardmen in the thunder and the Elves will fight the Dwarfs in gales!  

Will has started to write up the rules ready for a proper event which will be run at the coming Gambit Games, if you want to have a read through and let us know what you think as your feedback is very important to us...



or visit ... https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5nNqfS7fI-QdE14Y0VuY0xHdVVjbkVLdlJXcy1nZnJCd2M4/edit

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Timeline

Due to be released in September is the great new range of games from Asmodee...


Guess the date of creation for dozens of inventions or historical events!
Was the light bulb invented before or after glasses? With Timeline, learn the answer to this question and many more. Each card has a different invention and on the opposite side its associated date.












To begin, one card is randomly drawn from those not given to players. This is placed in the middle of the table, date-side up and is the starting point of a chronological line which will slowly be built by players. The first player then chooses one of their cards and place it before or after the initial card. The player's card is then turned date-side up. If the player was right, it remains on the table. Otherwise, the card is discarded and a new one must be drawn to replace it. Play proceeds clockwise. The more cards which are correctly played, the harder it is to correctly place new ones!

The first player to get rid of their cards wins.

Lords of War Campaign Update


The Lords of War Campaign will start tonight at the Royal George as part of this weeks KD Games Night!

I have got a number of players interested and it should make for some interesting games. Following on from yesterdays blog article where I outlined my initial thoughts there have been a number of questions raised which were either not clear or not even thought of. So in preperation for tonights games here are the questions that have been raised so far with the answers... 

Q. If a general issues a challenge to an unclaimed territory, but a subsequent general issues a challenge to a territory that the first general has claimed (which the 1st general must accept?) what happens.

A. This type of situation should be quite rare but presents an interesting problem. Sometimes a generals plans to expand his/her empire will be changed by an unexpected attack on another front! When this happens the general being challenged must defend! This may leave an other general without a battle to fight when it does then the challenge process continues to the next highest priority player and the player that no longer has a battle is changed to the lowest priority. So for example Player 1 challenges a vacant region, Player 2 accepts it, Player 3 challenges a region controlled by Player 1 which means Player 1 must accept it! Player 2 no longer has an opponent so goes back into the pool of players as the lowest priority and Player 4 now challenges a region as normal! To prevent more complex situations where a general is challenged twice in the same round I have added the condition that no player may challenge a non vacant region if the player who controls it is already defending this round!

Q. When a command card is sold back at a cost of 20 points does the player that wants their command card back pay 20 points and / or the player who had captured the command gain 20 points? 

A. The player that wants it back pays it to the player that captured it - so one player loses 20 points and the other gains 20 points to their ongoing scores (captured units are only worth 10 points whilst you have them and there is a chance they may escape meaning the player will have nothing!)

Q. Do we need to play a full round (all players) at a time?

A. No but the next round can not start until all games have been completed.

Q.  When you customise a deck is this still bound by the limits of existing rules (e.g. max 8 infantry etc)?

A. Yes all normal deck building rules apply.

Q. When you have 6 regions can captured command cards replace other non-command cards or is it limited to command card changes?

A. Captured command cards will take the place of one of a players command cards! If a captured command escapes or dies whilst trying to escape then the original command card returns to the deck (assuming it is still available, i.e. not captured itself!)

Hopefully these answers make sence and I am sure more will come up tonight or that there will be things that simply need changing! I will do a unpdate in the coming days with any further changes as well as a progress report on the campaign itself!

Monday 16 June 2014

Lords of War Campaign

I am looking for at least four players to take part in my first attempt at a Lords of War Campaign! This is very much a testing ground for some rules that I hope to get sanctioned by Martin and Nick at Black Box so it is important that players are willing to give feedback on the system and make suggestions for any improvement. It is also hoped that it will be great fun - so if you play Lords of War (or even if you don't but think you might like to start) then why not join in!


Here is the proposed format, but as I have said this may well changes as the campaign progresses!

Each play must choose a faction or tribe (Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Lizardmen, Undead or Templars) and have a deck with cards from just that race (as it comes from the box - no customised decks). For this first event I am only looking to have one of each race so maximum of six players!

Then to get things started we will need to work out a first round prioirty this will be done by cutting an army deck (highest defence wins)! This needs to be repeated until we have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc priorities!

We will then be using a standard playing mat as our campaign map! Starting with the player with the lowest priority he/she will select a starting terratory (vacant space on the mat) and place a marker on it to represent his general! No general can be placed in a location adjacent to another general!


Then it will be time for generals to make there challenges for the first round!

CHALLENGES

Starting with the player with the highest priority a general can...

1. Issue a challenge to a region that is adjacent to one he or she controls. When this is done this player chooses the weather by selecting three cards from the top of the weather deck and choosing one! This is revealed and placed on this region so that other generals can see it! This will represent the weather condition that will be in play at the beginning of the game! Generals can only issue a challenge to a region if there are enough players with lower priority to accept all of the challenges (for example in a four player campaign if the first two generals have made a challenge the third one will not be able to but must accept one of the existing ones). Generals must accept a challenge made on a region they already control!

NO CHALLENGE CAN BE MADE ON A GENERALS LOCATION UNLESS THAT PLAYER CONTROLS NO OTHER LOCATIONS

2. Accept a challenge for a general that has already been made! (This can only be done if there is already a region with a face up weather card on it!)

BATTLES

Playing the games is next and these must be done at either the Tuesday Games night of the Friday Magic night!

Games will use the 'D6' weather system with the starting condition being the one selected during the challenge stage!

If a region that is being challenged is already controlled by an existing general they will get to select 6 terrain cards from the terrain deck to place on the mat at the beginning of the game in any location they choose! (This must still allow players to start on the normal locations) if not the each player will get dealt 3 from the top of the deck to start the game!

Games will be played to the normal 20 cards and 4 command card victory conditions unless the battle is happening in a region already controlled in which case the attacking player is at a disadvantage (on the enemy homegroung) and only has to lose 14 cards (plus one for each region they control) the normal rules of 4 command cards still apply.

UPDATING THE MAP AND POINTS

At the end of each battle points are calculated as they would be for a tournament with an additional 15 points if a general has claimed a victory in a region already controlled by an enemy!

Any regions where a game was for some reason tied will result in that region remaining unclaimed!

Any region that has been claimed by a general will now have a token placed on the map! These tokens will repesent one of the command cards in the deck so a player can only control 6 regions at any one time! A player can choose to move an existing token and lose control of a previous region!
If a player takes control of a region previously controlled by another players command card that commander is captured! They can be sold back to the player at cost of 20 points! Whilst captured the command card is removed from the deck!

If a player takes control of the generals region then he is not captured but retreats to an unoccupied location!

Points are added to previous rounds scores and an additional 20 points is awarded for each region controlled by a general or cammand card plus 10 for each captured command card!

After battles are fought players are free to costomise their decks by changing cards upto the total of regions controlled (if you control two regions at the end of the battle then you may change two cards in your deck)

If a player controls 4 or more regions they may make changes that will allow other races to be included (but not command cards)

If a player controls 6 regions they may add captured command cards to their decks (only whilst they are captured)

Points are used to work out priority for the next round of battles!

Once all points are calculated and before the next round starts all captured command cards are rolled for to see if they manage to escape and return to their armies. Roll a D6 for each captured card and on the roll of a 6 that commander successfully escapes. It can not be used in the next round of battles but can be nominated for any captured regions and any subsequent battles in future rounds! On a roll of a 1 the commander dies in the attempt and take no further part in any games!

Please let me know if your interested in this format as I aim to get things started this week and ideally would like to get a couple of rounds done to see how it works!

Since publishing this there have been a few questions raised, the answers to which can be found here : http://kidsdreamsgames.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/lords-of-war-campaign-update.html

Sunday 15 June 2014

M15 New Player Decks

For new players we can provide one of five decks (one for each color) when they sign up for their DCI number. These are updated each year with cards from the latest core set. We should be getting a restock of these in the next few weeks and they will be featuring cards from Magic 2015 , but with a bit of a twist this year. Each sample deck has several cards numbered 270 and higher that do not appear in Magic 2015 booster packs.

These cards are legal for tournament play in any format that includes the Magic 2015 core set. These cards are available in the sample decks as well as Magic2015 Deck Builder's Toolkits.

Those cards are pictured beneath each sample deck.There are some new cards in the decks that are Magic 2015 but as yet I only they card names (I will have to wait for the decks to arrive!)

White Deck
13 Plains
1 Aegis Angel
1 Ajani's Pridemate
1 Kinsbaile Skirmisher
1 Midnight Guard
2 Oreskos Swiftclaw
1 Paragon of New Dawns
1 Serra Angel
2 Soulmender
1 Tireless Missionaries
1 Divine Favor
2 Divine Verdict
1 Inspired Charge
1 Marked by Honor
1 Staff of the Sun Magus

 

Blue Deck
13 Island
2 Frost Lynx
2 Fugitive Wizard
1 Mahamoti Djinn
2 Nimbus of the Isles
1 Paragon of Gathering Mists
1 Research Assistant
1 Welkin Tern
1 Cancel
1 Chronostutter
1 Divination
1 Into the Void
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Negate
1 Staff of the Mind Magus

 

Black Deck
13 Swamp
1 Gravedigger
1 Nightmare
1 Paragon of Open Graves
1 Sengir Vampire
2 Typhoid Rats
1 Walking Corpse
2 Witch's Familiar
1 Zof Shade
1 Crippling Blight
1 Festergloom
2 Flesh to Dust
1 Mind Rot
1 Sign in Blood
1 Staff of the Death Magus

  

Red Deck
13 Mountain
2 Borderland Marauder
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Furnace Whelp
2 Goblin Roughrider
1 Paragon of Fierce Defiance
1 Rummaging Goblin
1 Shivan Dragon
1 Thundering Giant
1 Cone of Flame
1 Lava Axe
1 Lightning Strike
1 Lightning Strike
2 Seismic Strike
1 Staff of the Flame Magus

  

Green Deck
13 Forest
1 Centaur Courser
1 Charging Rhino
2 Elvish Mystic
1 Garruk's Packleader
1 Paragon of Eternal Wilds
1 Roaring Primadox
2 Runeclaw Bear
1 Shaman of Spring
1 Terra Stomper
1 Hunt the Weak
1 Hunter's Ambush
1 Plummet
1 Staff of the Wild Magus
2 Titanic Growth

 

Friday 13 June 2014

M15 Teaser Trailer


The new set is due for release in July and as yet there are not too many details. One card that we know will be in the set is...


This is the card that was designed by the MTG community at the end of 2013!