tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50408922492891847762012-01-30T03:41:56.299-08:00Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02831914487468020694noreply@blogger.comBlogger6151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-66953194654721306672011-10-07T20:57:00.000-07:002011-10-27T10:07:20.342-07:00

It's been almost two years since I first reviewed Treehouse from Looney Labs (you can read about it here), so it was about time to score another set of brightly colored translucent triangles and play more wacky abstract games. Well, maybe it was past time. It's hard to say, because I can't figure out how to set the clock on my cell phone (I have a new kick-ass Android phone, that keeps track of

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-1402241246549634622011-10-05T14:14:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.289-07:00

I think we need to start a campaign to tell Looney Labs what settings to use for Fluxx. We've got zombies and pirates, Martians and potheads. We've got Monty Python and eco-friendly shrubbery. Looney Labs cranks out another Fluxx version about once a year, and so I think we need to offer some ideas. I think maybe Dino Fluxx, Balanced Diet Fluxx, and Porn Fluxx (my personal favorite idea) should

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-14266512817366260272011-10-03T14:10:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.369-07:00

Transcript from a private conversation that may or may not have occurred in my head the other day:Me: I wish I could find a really cool game that I could break out quick, play in fifteen minutes, then put it away when everybody finally shows up.Also Me: Yeah, but those tend to be so empty and crappy and boring. Half the time they're just abstracts, and I never feel like I did anything, and the

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-87625613611077104562011-09-30T13:01:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.406-07:00

There are a few things that you can put into a game to make me want it without knowing anything else about it. Rhino-men and fireballs are two of those things. Conquest Tactics has both rhinoceros people with throwing axes and wizards with the capacity to burn down your house, plus demon goblins and a bunch of other cool things.When I first heard about Conquest Tactics, I was pretty stoked. It

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-46197579686173073112011-09-28T14:14:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.439-07:00

So much for the afterglow.Monday I reviewed Risk Legacy, a game that I am still thoroughly enjoying and cannot wait to play again. To temper the excitement of that incredible game, I've decided to flip it backwards and review a game that I hope to never play again, ever.That game is called Galapa Go! It's one of those unfortunate games whose titles end in exclamation marks, which I find terribly

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-45350779012872865412011-09-26T07:30:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.490-07:00

Since Risk Legacy was announced, Internet prognosticators have had a field day of bitchery. I have seen completely ignorant responses vary from calling it a disposable game to saying that Risk Legacy is Hasbro's blatant attempt to steal money from stupid fans. These claims are based on the worthless knowledge one gains by using the same website as someone who knows something. As my good friend

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-81378872838133085262011-09-16T14:06:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.538-07:00

I have been reviewing games for a long enough time that I can usually spot a really bad game just by looking at the box. I am rarely surprised, though Cambridge Games Factory surprised me routinely by having ugly games that were actually really good. Chaostle, on the other hand, did not surprise me. The art would be good, if this were 1986. The box is absurdly huge. The components are almost

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-16846650442425618472011-09-14T14:48:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.585-07:00

Sometimes an idea hits the market that's so good, you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Like the guy who came up with a worldwide swap meet, called it eBay, and then got richer than God. Now, from anywhere in the world, you can buy somebody's used crap. That's awesome, because previously, if you wanted a beat-up plaque announcing to visitors that they were currently in Mom's Kitchen, you

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-52463635952631544742011-09-12T13:55:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.621-07:00

Cambridge Games Factory has impressed the hell out of me so far. While Glory to Rome was easily the best of their games I have played so far, North Pole and Zombie In My Pocket were both a heck of a lot of fun. Sure, all the games are about as pretty as a puddle of dog vomit, but they're good games. So when I sat down to play Barons, I knew I was going to be playing a fun game.Barons is instantly

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-35068829800797274972011-09-09T14:58:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.651-07:00

The Nile Valley had to be the absolute worst place in the world to be a farmer. That damned river flooded all the time, and wiped out crops left and right. The worst thing was that you never knew what would get ruined - one week you're fat and happy with a great supply of flax, and the next week, all your papyrus is under water and black mold is growing in your barn.Actually, I have a funny

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-9227467244175231852011-09-07T13:03:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.681-07:00

Charades is one of those games that everyone actually likes playing, but nobody will admit to it. It's pretty fun to act out silly phrases and make people guess what you're doing, but the downside is that you look a bit like a horse's ass while you do it. I would say it helps to be drunk, but then, if you're drunk, it's a lot harder to think of ways to act out 'Swiss Family Robinson.' All your

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-47837526895954168582011-09-05T19:17:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.712-07:00

Before I began reviewing for Cambridge Game Factory, I knew about Zombie In My Pocket. It was a free print-and-play game you could download at Board Game Geek, a solitaire game where you run around a house full of the undead and try to stave off the zombie apocalypse by burying an evil totem in the graveyard installed behind the storage shed. Cambridge bought the game, and added rules to turn it

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-66580991423890439352011-09-02T10:59:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.741-07:00

Sometimes, hobby gamers tend to get so focused on the 80 dollar releases full of plastic monsters and illustrated game maps that we forget that lots of normal people play games, too. Only they don't play games with plastic monsters and illustrated maps, they play games you can buy at Target and that have a 3X5 card for a rulebook. And the crazy thing, the improbable truth, is that they actually

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-15824147293375578072011-08-31T14:51:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.777-07:00

It is a well-known historical fact that at some point, ancient Rome caught on fire. Also known is that Nero played a fiddle. What is not as well known is that after he finished his violin solo, Nero went out on his patio, saw that the fire was out, and hired a bunch of his buddies to fix the town. That's where you come in.Glory to Rome is a seriously engaging card game that has the players all

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-81808324214498861822011-08-29T16:02:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.808-07:00

I have the coolest dad ever. Not just because he plays tons of games with me and took me backpacking a lot when I was a kid, and not just because he survived Vietnam and has kick-ass scars all over his body. No, my dad is the coolest because he willingly volunteers to play games I don't want to play, then takes the time to write reviews about them, thereby saving me time and effort and freeing me

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-28137269729878772722011-08-26T14:56:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.860-07:00

Movies that reference other movies are not exactly rare. We watched Rango, which is cover-to-cover full of references to other movies, and then we watched Paul the next night, which references nearly every big science-fiction movie or TV show made in the last ten years. But there's a big difference between obvious, unoriginal references that damage the continuity of the film, and well-placed

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-65439818232633988652011-08-24T14:50:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.890-07:00

Penguins live in the South Pole. Not everyone knows that, but everyone should. So if you're a penguin, and you live at the South Pole, where would you vacation? Warmer climates are pretty much out - you've got more insulating fat on your gut than Dom DeLuise, and there's no way you can drink enough margaritas in Cabo to keep from melting into a pool of fat cells and tiny tuxedo feathers. Seems to

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-8166240256367977862011-08-22T09:15:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:53.986-07:00

It has finally happened - I have fallen prey to the siren song of social media. I've had a Facebook page for years, but never really used it because it irritated the hell out of me. I just didn't need to know which of my friends had recently purchased sandwich meat. I don't need regular updates on the after-work plans of people I barely know who live hundreds of miles away. And Facebook is

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-70636353810065422132011-08-19T09:56:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.025-07:00

Russian Game Week is coming to a close, and I saved the best of the batch for last. I need a big drum roll and maybe a man dressed up as a dancing bear. This last game requires some fanfare, because it's one of the most entertaining games I've played this year. If I was a lot less lazy and bothered to rank things, this last game could be a contender for Game of the Year. But I don't, so it's just

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-70260258728457209742011-08-18T14:45:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.065-07:00

Ever since I was old enough to dissect a dead frog that had been soaking in formaldehyde for weeks, I wanted to play a game that would allow me to create an enormously fat fish with a tapeworm. Until now, there just weren't games that would let me manipulate genetic codes that way, but thanks to a brilliant Russian game designer, now I finally have the option to genetically engineer a burrowing

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-52169155747160037222011-08-17T10:56:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.096-07:00

Russian Game Week started off with a bang. Maybe a flop. Maybe the sound a dead fish makes when it slaps onto a cutting board. But the second review - now here's a good game. The Kingdoms of Crusaders is surprisingly good.I was not looking forward to playing Kingdoms of Crusaders when I got the box. After I read the rules, it looked even worse. It's painfully basic - you've got a hand of five

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-86057872140192600402011-08-16T10:28:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.139-07:00

Being a child of the 80's, I have fond memories of the Cold War. Sure, we were all going to die in a nuclear holocaust that would fry most of us like marshmallows at a campfire, and the rest of us were going to have all our hair fall out before we were covered in horrible bruises and died barfing our guts onto the floor, but the movies were great. It was a time when "cloak and dagger" had

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-10025669557055646172011-08-12T21:55:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.185-07:00

I don't know if growing older has jaded me or just made me realize how stupid Dungeons & Dragons really is. Probably both. But either way, I have trouble signing off on a fantasy setting with such a willfully improbable collection of bizarre beings, especially when the ramifications of most of the elements in Dungeons & Dragons are never adequately explored. By way of example, look at your

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-73485837501869601862011-08-10T14:25:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.234-07:00

Tonight I will review a game called Flashwordz. It is a spelling game. If you were sitting near me as I type this, you would hear me saying, 'Wow, a spelling game with a misspelled title. That does not seem like a good idea.' Of course, that's assuming I talk to myself while I type, which I generally do not do unless I am very angry about something. And frankly, a 'z' at the end of a word where

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-7235718684066686952011-08-08T14:37:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.271-07:00

A long time ago (well, a long time ago in Internet years) I reviewed Shogun, the old 1984 Gamemaster Series game where everyone sets out to conquer feudal Japan using samurai soldiers and peasants carrying antique firearms. The summary was that I liked it, but couldn't describe the ending because I was never able to finish a game. I even took it to GenCon and set up for a marathon 5-player game,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-981265597506951302011-08-05T14:17:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.301-07:00

Party games are the catch-all dumping ground of gaming ideas. For a long time, most of them seem to start with Apples to Apples, change two things, and publish. Seriously, how many variations of 'guess who said what' do we need?Apparently, we need at least one more. So a bunch of guys without any good ideas got together, licensed a silly-but-entertaining website and made the Awkward Family Photos

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-86799847847702794092011-08-03T14:46:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.333-07:00

Kids are not stupid. OK, that's not exactly right. Kids are stupid. But a kid's stupidity is generally related to things like riding his bike off the roof or lighting the curtains on fire, as opposed to not having the mental capacity to recognize when a game is blatantly lame.Unfortunately, the people who made The Greatest Day Ever think your children are mostly brain-dead. They believe that your

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-15737600784574783392011-08-01T18:02:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.368-07:00

It's time once again for a review from my old man. I could go into a belabored explanation about how I don't like Thunderstone, and he does, and how when he was at my house on vacation a year ago I gave him my copy of the game. And then I could explain how whenever Alderac sends me Thunderstone expansions, I box them up and mail them to my dad, so that he can write about them, because it saves me

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-20484144053536384092011-07-29T17:22:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.398-07:00

Last April, I reviewed a card game called Omen: A Reign of War. It was not only the best game from Small Box Games that I've ever played, it was also one of the best games I played last April. It's fast and smart, balanced and tense, and has some seriously kick-ass art. Just look at that picture up there. That's seriously kick-ass art.That seriously kick-ass art is not from Omen, though. It's

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-16127223232428289522011-07-27T14:27:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.439-07:00

Theme-lovin' gamers have it pretty good. Think of a cool theme, and you can probably find a game that does it well. If you want world war, we've got it (frequently with robots or aliens). Zombies? We've got it. Swords and sorcery? Holy crap, have we got it.But what seems to be missing - and what should be a pretty obvious hole in gaming history - is a good game about comic book heroes. That's not

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-80003391480520268812011-07-25T20:46:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.495-07:00

I like games designed for kids. There is often a simple and grin-inducing pleasure in playing a game meant to entertain people who eat paste in art class. Not only that, but when I was a kid, Connect 4 was one of my favorites. It was smart without being complicated, yet simple without being condescending. It helped that I won a lot.This year, Hasbro is breaking out a new version of Connect 4.

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-37038377161022317272011-07-23T19:54:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.553-07:00

I was going to write this review last night, but I was busy. Then I was going to write it today, and I was busy again. So I'm finally getting to it, and I have to confess what I was doing when I was so busy - I was reading a book.For those of you who have not managed to hear all the hubbub about A Song of Ice and Fire, possibly because you live in the hills of Kentucky and only have Internet

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-34936867447153925012011-07-20T14:20:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.594-07:00

There are lots of kinds of games. There are pure mental challenges with bright colors and chunky wooden pieces, but no story at all. There are athletic games that require you to be coordinated and hopefully not very fat. There are cooperative games and card games and dice games. But my favorite games are the ones that tell a story, which is why I have fallen hopelessly in love with Mansions of

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-5431225556107634352011-07-18T12:13:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.633-07:00

Last week, I reviewed the ridiculously fun Battleship Galaxies. So it's almost fitting that this week, I should review Astra Titanus, another space battle game. And it's a great time for it because it allows me to compare and contrast the Hasbro big box space extravaganza with the Victory Point plastic bag full of cardstock.The biggest elephant in the room, of course, is that Astra Titanus comes

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-46653130067350351992011-07-15T07:54:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.664-07:00

Since time began, people have played games. Initially, these games were very simple, and mostly involved two men hitting each other on the head with clubs. The winner of this game was pretty obvious, because the loser got to bleed out on the floor of the cave and the winner got to drag a woman by her hair. Happily, we have better games than that now. Otherwise my wife would kill me for trying to

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-67591652678876166182011-07-14T14:16:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.696-07:00

Sometimes I get this weird vibe where everyone else loves a game and argues over whether it is awesome or just bitchin', and then I play it and wonder what I missed. It mostly happens with really popular games - for example, I would rather take a nap than play Puerto Rico (I always wonder about people who are extreme in their 'would rather' examples, like when someone says, 'I would rather shove

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-284522548692741012011-07-11T16:56:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.728-07:00

Vapor's Fate dropped out of orbit just outside Saturn's orbit, right on top of the ISN Everest. Captain Skiles of the Intergalactic Space Navy raised the alert and began mustering his forces, but the Wretch battleship was already launching ship after ship from the bowels of its nightmarish hull. The enemy ships closed for battle, firing cannons and missiles and lasers as fighters circled like

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-83044745034872758102011-07-08T14:01:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.772-07:00

It's tough to categorize Dixit Odyssey as a particular kind of game. There's a little scoring board in the middle of the table, but that's about as much board as you get. There are cards, and they're pretty important to the game, but the game isn't about the cards, it's about the ideas they represent. Maybe instead of 'Weird Game Review', I should call this one 'Stoner Game Review.'But that's

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-27653587360459654942011-07-06T14:28:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.807-07:00

I don't generally refer to the big pile of games in my office as my collection. That seems a little silly to me. It's like if I looked at the shirts hanging in my closet and called them my collection. I don't collect button-down dress shirts. I just own a bunch, because I work in an office. They're not a collection, because I only buy them so I can wear them to work. I don't collect cotton-poly

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-67330261435200729022011-07-05T18:48:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.838-07:00

I had a game all reviewed and ready to go. It was a good one, too. It's classic nerd excellence. But I changed my mind about running it tonight, because I just wasn't feeling it. And I wasn't feeling it because I found something way better, and I feel like everyone should know about it, right now.Let's say you're a zombie. OK, that's not very likely, so instead, let's say you're a fan of zombie

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-1272466932476345982011-07-01T14:22:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.871-07:00

This is a review of Mr. Jack Pocket, which is not to be confused with Mr. Jack's pocket, which is where the school janitor keeps his tobacco, as long as the janitor is named Jack and you live in Texas, where for no reason I can completely understand, it's OK to call a man by his first name as long as you put a 'Mister' in front of it, even if you're six. Maybe I'm just not used to it because my

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-1392415958960849092011-06-29T14:14:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.932-07:00

How much do you have to change a game to make it a new game? I mean, assuming you're not Reiner Knizia - he just changes the art and sells the same game two or three times. But I mean if you're someone else, someone who is not in a position to mastermind an overthrow of the German government, how many new rules do you have to put into a game to make it something different?If you're Looney Labs,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-79723176058156220702011-06-27T14:54:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:54.977-07:00

You can tell a lot about a roleplaying game by reading through its premade adventures. Lots of games don't have published adventures at all, and those games are most likely created by lazy people. Honestly, if you can't think of a story to tell in a world you made yourself, you're either boring or you're just not trying very hard.Other games have adventures that are about as interesting as a

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-58206078880138609812011-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.043-07:00

Sometimes, as a game reviewer, it's interesting to look at the games I haven't played. Legend of the Five Rings is a good example. The game has been around almost as long as Magic: The Gathering. It has a huge fan base, and is still going strong in a market where most other collectible card games go belly up within three years. And yet I never so much as bought a starter. Probably I never tried

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-59675730507453949842011-06-22T18:59:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.135-07:00

It's about time I got back to writing game reviews, before I have to change the heading at the top of the page to read, 'random articles about whatever is crossing my mind right now,' and then I'll just be another inane blogger telling nobody in particular about my pets and recent bathroom visits. While Taxi Driver of the Apocalypse was handy, and gave me something to post until I could recover

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-86566185718089835892011-06-20T14:31:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.174-07:00

Part One: The IntroPart Two: The SetupThe HookThe first notion I had that something wasn't right was when a hand grenade went off in my ballsack. I sat straight up, gasping for air, trying to scream, and realized that there were two very unpleasant men in the room. One of them had just punched me in the nuts.I curled up in a ball and cradled my wounded jewels, trying hard not to throw up. My gun

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-11817582985841152822011-06-19T20:34:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.222-07:00

And now, the moment almost none of you have been waiting for, the winners in The Spoils contest! I know that you are all dying with anticipation, waiting impatiently to find out what happens on some television show you're watching. Well, I don't know, because I'm not watching that show. But I do know who won The Spoils contest, so that will have to do.There were a bunch of entries, but my

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-40762009573877060012011-06-17T10:04:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.282-07:00

In case you missed it, here's a link to the first part of this story.Part One: The IntroPart Two: The SetupIt was a gray day in North Texas. Grayer than normal, and that's saying something. I was in what was left of Sundance Square, which used to be a bar-hopping tourist trap in Fort Worth but was now a handful of barricaded buildings and burned-out storefronts. My last fare had been unusually

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-70383596861293142092011-06-15T14:10:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.329-07:00

The apocalypse finally came around, and nobody really noticed.Sure, there were a few loony bastards who started screaming about the End Times when that flu epidemic came across the Pacific and starting killing people in San Diego. And yes, a couple armchair prognosticators told anyone who would listen that the high price of gas meant the end of civilization. But even when the war for South

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-48847451382429539862011-06-12T12:41:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.379-07:00

I went back to the doctor Saturday, and found out that there are two kinds of pneumonia. One kind is the normal kind, the kind where you get a shot in your ass and take some antibiotics and get better. The other kind is where you get more shots in your ass and take more antibiotics and maybe get better, but not for a couple weeks. Turns out, I had the second kind. So instead of playing games this

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-41464922312431538882011-06-08T11:51:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.448-07:00

Pneumonia is still keeping me from playing games. So instead of a review, here's a short story.The rain in this part of the city never cleans anything. It stirs up the filth in the dumpsters, streaks the soot on the walls of the dive bars and strip joints, and gathers in greasy puddles in the parking lots and gutters, making miniature lakes with islands of discarded fast-food wrappers and

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-87748393316812285652011-06-06T14:12:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.676-07:00

I didn't play any games Saturday, unless 'blowing my nose into a hand towel for twelve hours' is a game. And if it is, I don't know if I won or lost.It started Friday afternoon, when I started to get a little tickle in the back of my throat. It sort of feels like when you get a piece of popcorn stuck halfway down, and you spend the whole afternoon trying to clear your throat. Only it's not really

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-62079191801207694662011-06-03T21:06:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.709-07:00

For just a second, I was thinking about deliberately misspelling the title of the new Nightfall expansion. Not because it's bad - on the contrary, I love it. More like poking fun at myself for screwing up the last one. But then I remembered, that would be stupid.So instead, I'll just tell you how much fun Martial Law is, and not call it Marsha Law (I once knew a girl named Marsha Law. Her parents

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-84705194339144980192011-06-01T14:41:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.749-07:00

Dice Town has been a favorite around my house for a while now. Something about rolling dice, playing poker, and hosing your friends makes this a great game to break out when everyone just wants to goof off for an hour or so. It's two parts cutthroat, three parts luck, and fourteen parts using the ol' noggin. The game itself is not in whatever top-ten game list I might have, but I've probably

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-56505850016786277092011-05-30T16:06:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.781-07:00

The first thing I have to say about Felinia is that I cannot decide how to pronounce the name. I'm not sure if it should be 'Fel-eye-nee-uh', which sounds like 'vagina', or 'Fel-eh-nee-uh', which sounds uncomfortably similar to 'fellatio'. Neither word is one I want to call out when asking close family members if they would like to play a game. But then, maybe it's pronounced so it rhymes with

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-30785175965871046102011-05-27T15:07:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.830-07:00

Blue Planet has always been kind of an elusive game for me. It's not that it's not interesting. In fact, it has one of the most compelling settings I've ever seen. It's incredibly well-developed, with a fascinating world that puts the 'science' in 'science fiction' and a system that makes hydrofoil gunfights and alien exploration feel real. You don't have to suspend much disbelief to play Blue

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-40033757426282181442011-05-25T14:32:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.875-07:00

I don't try to hide the fact that I'm a sucker for a good theme. It's more fun to play a game when it feels like you're doing something else. That's also why I'm a Star Wars nerd - I want to fly spaceships around a planet far, far away. It's probably also why I can't stand romantic comedies. You're not escaping anything if you wind up pretending that you're a dorky kid with a crappy office job

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-7461069894530391142011-05-23T19:54:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.916-07:00

The Internet has created hundreds of new kinds of businesses, enterprises that just could not have existed when we all had to go to the library for our information, instead of using Google for bizarre misinformation and randomly erroneous semi-factoids. Facebook, for instance, would never have worked as a mass-mailing campaign, and how lame would Twitter have been if it were just random postcards

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-13785171322695287112011-05-20T14:26:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:55.966-07:00

Just last week, I reviewed THE SPOILS, which is one heck of a good game. The only problem is, I never even heard of it before a reader mentioned it to me, and that means more people need to be playing this game. Considering how much better it is than Magic, it distresses me that The Spoils doesn't have more avid fans.I intend to remedy that. And the way I will get more people playing The Spoils

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-75145068049726639952011-05-18T14:44:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.012-07:00

Wrath of Ashardalon is one of those games that can be problematic for a reviewer. It's not exactly an expansion for Castle Ravenloft, because it is a complete game all by itself. The problem from where I'm sitting is that it uses the exact same rules as Castle Ravenloft, which means it can be tough to tell you anything new when I already reviewed the first game. It's still fast, still smart,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-24118775757132702762011-05-16T16:39:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.044-07:00

Everybody knows the saying that good things come in small packages. Whether or not it's true depends entirely on what's inside the package, of course - if you're comparing a package containing a diamond ring against a crate full of urine-stained packing peanuts, it's true, but box up a couple pounds of cat litter and put it next to a package with a car inside, and the saying goes right out the

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-3314333921180418212011-05-13T19:09:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.086-07:00

I'm in a rut.I like writing game reviews. But now and then, I just get bored. I have dozens of games I love to play, but I never have time because I'm always playing the new crap that shows up in the mail. I have to write about these games, and I've set myself a pretty lofty goal of three articles a week, which is sometimes pretty tough to do. When I'm tired and dragging and working on deadlines,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-72897562388745597772011-05-11T20:19:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.124-07:00

The Spoils has to be the strangest collectible card game I've ever seen. Admittedly, I have not played them all, but I would wager there are not very many games that pit elves who only write in 733t speak against bankers who are, quite literally, fat cats. And that's before you roll in a commodities market that buys and sells natural forces like gravity, tiny illegal aliens that are actually

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-91606598803706267612011-05-09T14:48:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.169-07:00

I'm going to get this out of the way, right off the bat, so that we don't have to keep talking about it - the game components produced by Victory Point Games suck. Sure, it's great that the games don't get made until you order them - but that just means they're all printed on cardstock you could buy at Staples using an inkjet printer that would embarrass you if it were in your house. Cheap

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-19819483007905197082011-05-06T14:11:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.227-07:00

People have different reasons for reading reviews. The most obvious reason is to find out about games they might want to purchase, but there are other reasons. You might read a review of a game you already own, to see if you agree. You might read a review because the reviewer is entertaining. It's crazy, but it happens.But I have a different sort of people who read my reviews. I have people who

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-17050353338839834632011-05-04T14:26:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.267-07:00

I'm going to try a word association exercise. I'll say a word, and then you can say the first thing that comes to your mind. Don't bother saying the word out loud, though. I can't hear you, and your co-workers will think you've been huffing the canned air.Ready? The word is 'Eleminis.'Ha! Got you, didn't I? You couldn't think of anything! Probably because that's not a word. That's like two words,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-739466824644154102011-05-02T14:23:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.297-07:00

I've been thinking lately, which is a change from my normal routine of staring at my shoes and falling asleep while I'm driving. It doesn't happen very often, but now and then I find it refreshing to mix it up and use my head for more than a paperweight (which is not that useful anyway, because my drool keeps smearing the ink).And my latest epiphany is that there are too many games. That may

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-78057536635071585512011-04-29T14:23:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.341-07:00

If you're going to play games with kids, they should be educational games. Everyone knows that. No, the kids might not have as much fun as if you just played a fun game, but it's really important that your children learn things. Way more important than having fun.But if you can make them have fun and fool them into learning, that's the best of both worlds. That's why Bruno Faidutti and some other

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-58691955526593394242011-04-28T14:39:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.379-07:00

I like to play games with other people. That sounds like it should go without saying, but I bring it up because if I'm getting out cards and dice and cardboard, I do not generally plan to use those things to play with myself.But sometimes it can be hard to find someone to play with me. You know, it's late, the wife is in bed, and I am overcome by a desire to play a game. I don't want to wake her

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-14126558177683261002011-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.412-07:00

I first discovered A Game of Thrones in 2004, when my wife bought the book for me as a Christmas present. I had never even heard of it before that Christmas morning, but I discovered pretty quickly that I had been missing one of the best fantasy epics ever written. You can have Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks and Michael Moorcock. The Xanth stories barely held my interest, maybe because they seem

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-55415537220333026302011-04-22T20:16:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.451-07:00

I always thought strep throat was something you only got when you were in grade school. You know, from the nasty kid whose mom never washes him and who has to get to her job at the blowjob factory so she never lets him miss school even if he did just blow a manatee-size wad of green goo out his left nostril. That kid goes to school, and you go to school, and the next thing you know, your throat

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-17179145325297353182011-04-20T14:30:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.503-07:00

I don't play a whole lot of bluffing games. They're not usually my bag. I tend to have more fun playing games where I move plastic around a board and then people die. I'm not exclusive, or anything - I can enjoy party games and clever German games, too. But bluffing games have never really been my go-to genre.Skull & Roses is a bluffing game. In fact, that's about all there is to the game. You

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-88200999751382573572011-04-19T20:39:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.554-07:00

Not me, you greedy assholes! I already gave most of my games away, just to clean my office.No, BoardGameinfo is giving away free games. Right now they're giving away Those Pesky Humans, which is fun, and totally worth the one post it will cost you to enter. They're going to be doing more, too.I don't run a news site, or anything, so don't count on me to do this a lot. It's more like a special

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-59286847102659670962011-04-18T14:13:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.595-07:00

I don't have an iPad. I want one real bad, and I'm saving up for it. I even took a second job so I could afford it. And I want an iPad because all the cool games are on there. Yes, I'm a little shallow.So when my friend called me a few weeks back and mentioned this great game he was playing on his iPhone, I got all grumbly. But then he told me that you can also play it online, and so I checked it

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-4749360118260750512011-04-15T14:14:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.631-07:00

In a market full of silly card games, Fluxx is the standout leader. The goal of the game is to complete the goal. The rules of the game are that you follow the rules. The goal continually changes, and the rules continually change, and it's goofy and fun and occasionally ridiculous.It also has more than a half-dozen expansions. There's Martian Fluxx and Zombie Fluxx, Eco Fluxx and Monty Python

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-36543812501708406032011-04-13T20:23:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.661-07:00

I typically review games that are for sale. Sometimes I review games that are not for sale, because they've been out of print for ten years, and that's because I get hard up for review material and have to resort to reviewing whatever I just got in a trade that week. So it's a special treat to get to review a game that isn't even out yet.I grant you that reviewing a game that doesn't exist yet

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-39414516156339462132011-04-11T14:42:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.694-07:00

There's a game company that prides itself on having the highest production values on the market. Their games come with plastic miniatures, fully illustrated rulebooks, and the best art money can buy. Their rules are finely tuned and thoroughly tested, and the games that result from this dedication to quality are some of the best you can buy.Twilight Creations is not that game company.I have

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-24653064289299890652011-04-08T14:47:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.719-07:00

War is awesome. Not real war - that's kind of messy and can lead to indigestion and potentially lead poisoning, unless your enemies are using bullets that don't contain lead, in which case you get brass poisoning or some other kind of poisoning that shows exactly how little I know about how bullets are made.But everything about war that's not actual war is pretty much kick-ass. Sergeant Rock,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-75445952118673182011-04-07T14:12:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.756-07:00

The funny thing about expansions is that while I love to get them, and I love to play them, I don't really like reviewing them all that much. Usually, it's not hard to tell if you want the expansion - if you like the base game, the expansion is usually a pretty obvious choice. If not, there's no reason to throw good money after bad, unless by 'bad' you mean 'topless dancers.'On the other hand,

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-59065113482970897572011-04-04T18:21:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.787-07:00

I have a problem. I cannot quit playing Gemcraft Labyrinth.It would be one thing if I were addicted to a 60 dollar console game with immersive graphics and a deep storyline. It would be completely understandable if I were hooked on some mass-market MMO and couldn't stop raiding every night. But it's seriously embarrassing to be unable to stop playing a free game on the Internet.OK, it's not

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-9937412551402712772011-04-02T18:22:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.825-07:00

I miss the 80s. The clothes were cool - when even chicks wear ties, people just tend to be dressing better. The music was great - kick-ass metal, great Europop, U2, and The Alarm were ruling the airwaves, and it was good. And we expected our games to take a while to finish.Now we complain about games that take longer than an hour (well, some people do. Not me. But some people). I know of entire

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-10797694294575311052011-03-30T14:39:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.862-07:00

A guy asked me the other day if, having reviewed games for going on a decade or so, my taste in games had changed. I would not say it has - my favorite game is still an old-school dungeon crawl from the early 90s. But one thing has changed - I don't really like Dungeon Twister any more.I reviewed Dungeon Twister more than three years ago, and back then, I thought it was a pretty cool game. Even

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-54597383248915320282011-03-29T14:35:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.897-07:00

I want to thank everyone who was concerned for my dopey dogs. It's been a tough week and a half, and it wore us down worrying about our stupid pets. But yesterday Animal Control decided they were harmless jackasses, and not hardened killers, and so as of last night, both dogs are back home. They cost us a mint in boarding fees and animal-at-large citations, so we may be feeding them ramen noodles

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-39284031069728721832011-03-28T14:51:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.931-07:00

I usually like to have something worth saying before I start typing up one of these reviews. Like, I want to tell you reasons you will enjoy the thing I'm reviewing, or reasons I hated it, or ways that it is better than some other thing. Optimally, what I say in a review will have some bearing on your decision to buy (or not) the thing I review. You know, in a perfect world.So I find myself a

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-82097949690315187172011-03-25T20:12:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:56.966-07:00

Last week, I took my kids to the movies. This was a big deal because for one thing, the theater didn't actually open until the next day, so it was kind of a celebration pre-opening thing. For another thing, we went to see a digitally restored copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, which is an absolutely amazing movie. I realize that it's not exactly a nerd movie, or one likely to appeal to gamers in

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-61762244465174870332011-03-23T14:23:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:57.015-07:00

This might be the least timely review ever written. By this point, every other reviewer alive has chimed in about Castle Ravenloft. It was one of last year's biggest releases, and everyone had to talk about it and argue about it and disagree about it and either proclaim it the best game ever created, or call it a heaping pile of rabbit pellets. And while all that was happening, I found myself

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-35760212919742924602011-03-21T14:37:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:57.067-07:00

I was going to write a review of To Kill A Mockingbird tonight. I took my kids to see a remastered version of the 1967 classic last week. Then the next morning my dogs got out, ran a mile in the middle of the city, and killed some lady's cat on her front lawn. Now they're in quarantine and we're waiting to find out if they're going to be euthanized (which is a pretty way to say that some city

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-49394049180386512542011-03-18T14:36:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:57.111-07:00

Victory Point Games has a slogan that's kind of a double-edged sword (as well as a cheesy riff of an old Shakespeare line). The slogan is, 'The gameplay's the thing.' On the one hand, that sounds like a company that specializes in games that are fun to play (as opposed to all those game companies who are chasing that elusive demographic of people who like games that are not fun to play). But the

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-75976512799691994882011-03-16T18:36:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:57.165-07:00

I just decided that this is Victory Point Games week. I'm saving the best for last, so for the mid-week review, I'm going to tell you why you should, under no circumstances I can imagine, play I Say, Holmes.I like Sherlock Holmes. I like stories about Sherlock Holmes, and games, and even that total reinvention-slash-blasphemy that featured Iron Man as the title character. So I was pretty excited

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-79275066517517727802011-03-14T14:50:00.000-07:002011-10-08T07:07:57.219-07:00

I talked to a guy one time who said that you can't judge a book by its cover. It didn't really make sense. I mean, if the cover says, 'Introductory Theoretical Physics,' it's a safe bet that the romance dialog is going to be a little forced. And if the picture on the front looks like it was drawn by special ed kids in a second-chance reform school, it's probably not destined to be a New York

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-43755796073592025892011-03-11T17:04:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.277-07:00

My wife is awesome. I'm going to tell you why.First, she's a trooper. She's had chronic, near-debilitating back pain since an idiot doctor couldn't stop talking golf long enough to do her epidural properly and gave her permanent damage to her spine. She has fibromyalgia, which was misdiagnosed by her doctor, who then proceeded to overdose her on vicodin and predisone. The overdoses resulted in a

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-13193000879736228042011-03-09T18:18:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.330-07:00

Video games are just about as old as I am. I was just young whelp when pinball halls started to feature stand-up arcade games, and we were the first family on our block to own an Atari (probably because the other families on our block were retirees). I’ve watched video games grow up with me, from the Nintendo Entertainment System and the original Playstation to the Xbox 360 and the rise of online

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-34685584606929965932011-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.376-07:00

Once again, I'm handing over tonight's review to my favorite (read: only) guest reviewer - my dad. He likes Thunderstone, and I don't, so I sent him Dragonspire and he reviewed it for me. Saves me playing the game (which, as I mentioned, I don't like) and gets me out of writing a review. It's like a one-night vacation. So while I kick back and go to bed early, you can enjoy this in-depth look at

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-37464106085410578812011-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.431-07:00

Space Hulk is one crazy fun game. The new one, with all the different sculpts and the embossed floor tiles, is both fun and stunning to gaze upon. I like the quality versus quantity aspect of the game, and it's fun to blast creepy aliens with space marines in power armor. So I was really surprised when I played Death Angel, the card game based on Space Hulk, and didn't like it at all.The story is

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-30673573883577421652011-03-02T14:39:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.476-07:00

The other day, a friend of mine mentioned in passing that I hated Euro-style games. The thing is, I don't. I like lots of games that are made in Germany and are all about harvesting beans or preparing dinner. And to prove that I like games that aren't all about gunfire or topless women, here's a very positive review of a game called Pastiche, in which players make copies of historic paintings. No

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-87490191048605515822011-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.515-07:00

It's funny, for a guy that grew up playing roleplaying games and amassing a considerable collection of oddly shaped dice, I actually enjoy a very small number of roleplaying games. Some are too much work, and others don’t have enough meat on their bones. Some are just board games with options, and others have so much drama and baggage that they should be played on a headshrinker’s couch. Some

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-58192080556061891762011-02-25T14:56:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.569-07:00

Groff Deathbloodfang, squire of East L.A. and fire marshal of the apocalypse, spread his leathery vampire wings and swooped down out of the night. His prey was below him, hot blood filling his nostrils like the cream in a chocolate eclair. He dove down, down, down, down, down, down and one more time down, claws extended to pluck his dinner out of the inky blackness and devour the human's terror.

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-29044798065589995572011-02-23T16:16:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.627-07:00

One day, aliens are going to come to the planet long after we've all died out. They'll be exploring the ruined husk of our planet, and using the odds and ends they can find to determine what kind of society we had. If they find Worm Up, they will assume that we were pretty darn stupid.Worm Up is another in a long line of reprints coming out of Gryphon Games. In this latest rehash, players will

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-57003918426737544302011-02-22T15:04:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.677-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I heard some Metallica on the radio. Then I got to work and someone mentioned Zombieland, and since I was already humming Whiskey in the Jar in my head, I leapt to For Whom the Bell Tolls, and I had a kind of shot of inspiration. And here it is:We need some heavy metal board games.It's not like there have been no solid attempts at making a metal game. Space Hulk should have

Epsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5040892249289184776.post-32454987203912854862011-02-19T23:03:00.000-08:002011-10-08T07:07:57.712-07:00

It's been a while since I was able to get Railways of the World to the table. Until a few weeks ago, it had been more than a year since I broke it out and played my favorite train game. Four days of ice-covered roads and a mandated vacation, however, gave me boatloads of time to spend with my family, whether or not I wanted it. So to kill time while we shivered in our poorly insulated house and

Epsnoreply@blogger.com