As promised, this is the second part of my Kaijudo review. Today I will talk about how to play the game, and discuss the different aspects of the cards themselves. As before, please feel free to ask questions or make comments!
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012. Show all posts
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Kaijudo Review Part One
Kaijudo. You may have heard this word recently, and wondered exactly what it was. Perhaps you saw an episode on the HUB channel, or your children have asked you for the cards, or you listened to a commercial for it online. Or, just maybe, you're one of the many gamers who are eagerly awaiting an opportunity to prove your skills at one of our tournaments starting in September.
Regardless of which category you fit into, I'm sure that this review will help to answer some questions about this exciting new CCG from Wizards of the Coast. I'll divide it into two parts; Part One will detail all the current releases for Kaijudo, whereas Part Two will be about the gameplay, and card types.
Regardless of which category you fit into, I'm sure that this review will help to answer some questions about this exciting new CCG from Wizards of the Coast. I'll divide it into two parts; Part One will detail all the current releases for Kaijudo, whereas Part Two will be about the gameplay, and card types.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Dragon's Den Player of the Year for Magic Update
Now that we have made it half way through the year, I thought we should post a quick summary of the top 8 players in each of the four different categories, as well as some statistics about the number of players we have seen for the different events we have run. Also, this Friday I'll be giving small gift to the Top player for each category.
Just as a side note, I've been asked about why we run so many different events so I thought I would throw a quick answer here. I like to run a Free and a Paid event at the same time on Friday nights so that the competitive players can play the tougher decks and the casual players don't feel like they are getting crushed all the time. It is a work in progress as we still get many players in the Free event that could play in the Paid, but the hope is that the new players and more casual players can build up to playing more competitive over time.
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Legacy has seen 58 unique players.
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We are excited to see how the rest of the year plays out as many of the Top 8 players have changed in the past several months. We will be posting some more information about what the players are getting for winning as well as changes to the Top 8 as the year goes on. If you have not played yet, don't despair We have had several player climb the ranks by playing every week in the different events. If you want to see what we have to offer each week check out our calendar of events!
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
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Just as a side note, I've been asked about why we run so many different events so I thought I would throw a quick answer here. I like to run a Free and a Paid event at the same time on Friday nights so that the competitive players can play the tougher decks and the casual players don't feel like they are getting crushed all the time. It is a work in progress as we still get many players in the Free event that could play in the Paid, but the hope is that the new players and more casual players can build up to playing more competitive over time.
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Free Standard has seen 235 unique players.| FREE Standard | 7/4/2012 | ||
| Rank | Name | Points | Matches |
| 1 | Evan Odden | 267 | 167 |
| 2 | Dave Oppenheimer | 221 | 100 |
| 3 | Carl Naumann | 204 | 109 |
| 4 | John Franczak | 199 | 105 |
| 5 | Mike Cox | 198 | 111 |
| 6 | Scott Fish | 183 | 105 |
| 7 | Will Shost | 163 | 67 |
| 8 | Niko Peone | 152 | 73 |
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Legacy has seen 58 unique players.
| Legacy | 7/4/2012 | ||
| Rank | Name | Points | Matches |
| 1 | Paul Lake | 123 | 52 |
| 2 | Rich Cali | 105 | 56 |
| 3 | James Rynkiewicz | 98 | 42 |
| 4 | Casey Madrick | 89 | 50 |
| 5 | Steve Carpenter | 88 | 40 |
| 6 | Frank Kick | 88 | 57 |
| 7 | Janene Andersen | 76 | 53 |
| 8 | Darryl Moss | 64 | 49 |
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Competitive Standard has seen 82 unique players.| Competitive Standard | 7/4/2012 | ||
| Rank | Name | Points | Matches |
| 1 | Doug Kimball | 70 | 34 |
| 2 | Chris Brellochs | 58 | 31 |
| 3 | Kevin Jones | 51 | 25 |
| 4 | Steve Carpenter | 51 | 25 |
| 5 | Alex Sherman | 51 | 31 |
| 6 | Lyon Kressner | 44 | 25 |
| 7 | Alex Kobes | 40 | 19 |
| 8 | Mica Buchanan | 36 | 30 |
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Limited has seen 227 unique players.| Limited | 7/4/2012 | ||
| Rank | Name | Points | Matches |
| 1 | Paul Lake | 85 | 34 |
| 2 | Will Shost | 61 | 32 |
| 3 | Mike Cox | 53 | 28 |
| 4 | Alex Sherman | 51 | 23 |
| 5 | Doug Kimball | 49 | 20 |
| 6 | James Rynkiewicz | 48 | 23 |
| 7 | Jonah Acosta | 39 | 19 |
| 8 | Mica Buchanan | 36 | 22 |
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We are excited to see how the rest of the year plays out as many of the Top 8 players have changed in the past several months. We will be posting some more information about what the players are getting for winning as well as changes to the Top 8 as the year goes on. If you have not played yet, don't despair We have had several player climb the ranks by playing every week in the different events. If you want to see what we have to offer each week check out our calendar of events!
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Winner of the GAMA 2012 Outstanding Organized Play!
We of the Dragon's Den are pleased to announce that we are
the proud owners of the 2012 GAMA Power Retailing Award for Outstanding
Organized Play. Our events manager (Sean "Striderlotr" Banks) and
buying manager (Stasi "Dengirl" King) were on hand to receive the
reward. For those unable to attend, it was presented during the GAMA Trade Show
Dinner on March 13th, at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is the non-profit
trade organization dedicated to serving the tabletop game industry. The award
reflects our success in organizing and running diverse and exciting events in
the Poughkeepsie store. This is a national award given by members of the GAMA
board, which includes game manufacturers, wholesalers, and other hobby and game
store owners.
We are so proud of all our employees who pull together
during each of our 1000+ yearly events. Whether it involves the actual running
of the events, putting up player lists, the intricate planning of simultaneous
compeitions, completing press releases, cleaning the play spaces or simply
rearranging the tables and chairs, every employee has proved crucial in one way
or another to our continued success. Of course, special thanks must go to Sean
for running and planning the majority of events, and to Stasi for writing the
winning essay!
Dragon's Den would also like to thank our numerous judges
and volunteers who help us run our events (and obviously, they run them well!)
Last, but most certainly not least, we would like to thank all of our players.
Regular customers who come to our store during any of our events often remark
at how kind and polite our player base is to onlookers. New players, be they
young or old, are always welcomed into our community, and given every
opportunity to learn. Women and men, 10 year olds or 80 year olds, newbies or
old-time gamers...everyone of our players is counted individually for what they
bring to the table, and as a part of a ever-expanding community. It is our
players we thank the most, for being the community that we are confident every
store wishes they had.
Thank you everyone for your support, and we hope to announce
another award next year!
Monday, February 20, 2012
NYC Toy Fair 2012
Well, we attended Toy Fair 2012 in New York City at the Jacob Javits Center. It was an incredible event with more to see then I could imagine. There were incredible deals, new games, old games, and so much more. While the event is still fresh in our heads, we are going to try and put some of the info into a blog AND add pictures... Just to let you know, many things we could not photograph so we will do what we can.
Activision: Activision had a gigantic booth set up for Skylander! More to the point, the new Skylander Giants expansion coming out this fall! We got a chance to check out a quick demo of the game and got a really cool limited piece to the game, a metallic purple Cynder! We have started to get Skylanders in the store, and the individual figures have been flying off the shelf.
Spinmaster: So many great products, so little space to write about them all. Tech Decks and Flick Trix bikes are very cool! These toys allow you to do tricks with skate boards and bike using your fingers. Appfinity and Appmates are two new products that they are releasing currently for the iPhone and soon on the Droid. These items will allow you to play a driving game with a special steering wheel, play a shooting game with a gun attachment, or remote control a helicopter. They also carry Redakai, a 3D trading card game. Very different design, and fun to play.
Calliope: Tsuro is a hot game! It is a game of paths, and if you have not seen this game, then it is time to take a look. They are also in the process of creating a new version of the game and hopefully we will see it soon! Got 'Em is another new game from Calliope. This game involves boxing in your opponent and moving your pawn to safety. We will have both of these games in stock very soon... hopefully once Toy Fair is completed.
GIANT Microbes: If you need something intelligent and fun, then check out GIANTMicrobes. They have key chains, vinyl figures, and plush figures of your "favorite" viruses and bacteria magnified 1,000,000 times. Some of the favorites they have created are common cold, kissing disease, MRSA, brain cell, chickenpox, and mad cow. This company has even created special collections just for the holidays, namely Valentines Day, Halloween, and Christmas.
Funko: Funko makes really cool vinyl figures and plush figures all based around popular pop culture! They make these for DC, Marvel, The Hobbit, Disney, and so much more. We currently carry some of their products, but we are excited to see all the new product that is not in the store yet.
Neca: Heroclix is one of the Wizkids products now made by Neca. Heroclix is coming on strong and with some many great licences like Lord of the Rings, Street Fighter, Marvel, DC, and Halo, it is no wonder. Thier newest line is a Star Trek ship to ship miniatures combat game. Another new game from Wizkids by Neca is Quarriors, a dice building game with a new expansion on the way. Licenced merchandise like Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Fall-out, Halo, and more. They make action figures, wall scrolls, bags, and so much more.
Monogram: Monogram creates many different products that use different licencing. They carry far more then we carry, but here are some of the ones we do carry; Marvel, Nightmare Before Christmas. They use the licence to make glasses, banks, travel mugs, key chains, and so much more.
Kotobukiya: This company makes some fantastic vinyl figures. Most of them are done as beautiful women and they cover lines such as Mass Effect 3, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Tekken, and more! This figures are fantastic with gorgeous detail. They also have a fantastic line of silicone ice cube trays and chopsticks. In this line they have Star Wars, DC Comics, and are introducing Alien. We have carried some of these products, but are now going to be getting NEW ones in March.
Mayfair: We stopped at Mayfair, and had a fantastic conversation about some new and forward thinking ideas. They gave us a ton of information about the Settlers of Catan National tournaments. We now understand what we can and cannot do, so we are ready to start running qualifiers for this great game! We also learned about a store-specific commercial. They have some fun characters on their website who will be a part of the commercial and we are excited to get copies of these.
Fantasy Flight: This company creates many differnet board games, card games, and role playing games. One of the newest games to come out soon is Star Wars X-Wing. This is a miniatures tactical space combat game. Star Wars Living Card Game is also coming out sometime this year. They did not have much information on this as it needed to be redone slightly.
Cryptozoioc: Stopping at Cryptozoic was mixed. They had some fact sheets, but not much else to see. Here are some of the big high-lights that we saw. They are planning several releases for Deck Building Games including Clash of Champions for World of Warcraft, DC Comics (part of the Cerberus game engine), also a Hobbit/LotR deck building game. They are also working on a Hobbit/LotR board game, hopefully coming out next year.
Nassau Candy: Jelly Belly, Branded/Licensed Candy, and bulk candy is what we saw at Nassau Candy. They things we really thought were great would be the Angry Birds, Mario, and Decade in a Box candies. So many great candies, and we even got a sample of their salt water taffy... which was fantastic!
Ata Boy: Magnets, Buttons, Stickers based on Princess Bride, Happy Bunny, DC, Marvel and Retro images. What more can I say, other then I want them in the store! So many great pop culture references and images. We are looking forward to carrying more of this line.
Royal & Langnickel: This company creates and sells paint brushes, palettes, and paints. We are very excited to find a company that sells high quality paint brushes at a very reasonable price! We will be carrying their line of brushes.
Asmodee: Dixit is one of those games that is an instant favorite. The art is fantastic and the game is about giving clues and bluffing/misleading your opponents. Timeline is a new game from Asmodee. It is a fast game with some great history lessons to share with the players. 7 Wonders, with its several expansions, gives you a fast paced game where you get to influnce one of the great civilizations of the world. This company makes some fun and fast games. Not a lot of time, check out Asmodee.
Hexbugs: They have a brand new item, Moshi Monster Bobble Bots! This is based on an online game that is HUGE in Great Britain, especially among girls. They have created this item using the Nano technology. They can be purchased in single packs, with houses, and with buildings. Hexbugs has also introduced several great holiday lines. Each one has a removable piece for the holiday; rabbit ears for Easter, antlers for Christmas, and a glow in the dark skeleton frame for Halloween! They also packaged them differently; Easter eggs, ornaments, and a coffin!
Konami: Yu-Gi-Oh!... What else can I say? Well I guess I can comment on all the different product coming out. We will see Ra Yellow Mega-Pack, Premium Collection tins, a new Starter, Galactic Overlord, and Hidden Arsenal 6. We will also get a very cool product, Battle Pack: Epic Dawn! This new pack will give players the chance to play Yu-Gi-Oh! in a sealed format!
Tenzi: This was a fun, super fast dice rolling game. The game was very simple to learn, and for a only $15 you get 40 D6 pipped dice! They come in 8 different colors, 4 to a pack. We had a blast playing this game, and managed to get all the dice on one side in 26 seconds.
Wood Expressions: We already carry many of their items, but are going to expand the depth of the product. They sell very common games like chess, checkers, solitaire, backgammon, cribbage and Chinese checkers. However, if you're looking for something like Shoot-the-Moon, Mah-Jong, Cathedral, Labyrinth and Mancala, they've got that too! We carry Wood Expressions for every customer type, from those who spend $15 on a beginner's checkers set to $150 for the collectors who want a carved marble chess board and pieces.
Set Game: Are you looking for a quick an interesting game? Are you looking for a game that will really push you to think? Then check out these games from Set: Xactika,Quiddler, Five Crowns, and Set! We demoed and played all 4 games in about 20 minutes. Now we did not finish the games, but we played several hands of each.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Activision: Activision had a gigantic booth set up for Skylander! More to the point, the new Skylander Giants expansion coming out this fall! We got a chance to check out a quick demo of the game and got a really cool limited piece to the game, a metallic purple Cynder! We have started to get Skylanders in the store, and the individual figures have been flying off the shelf.
Spinmaster: So many great products, so little space to write about them all. Tech Decks and Flick Trix bikes are very cool! These toys allow you to do tricks with skate boards and bike using your fingers. Appfinity and Appmates are two new products that they are releasing currently for the iPhone and soon on the Droid. These items will allow you to play a driving game with a special steering wheel, play a shooting game with a gun attachment, or remote control a helicopter. They also carry Redakai, a 3D trading card game. Very different design, and fun to play.
Calliope: Tsuro is a hot game! It is a game of paths, and if you have not seen this game, then it is time to take a look. They are also in the process of creating a new version of the game and hopefully we will see it soon! Got 'Em is another new game from Calliope. This game involves boxing in your opponent and moving your pawn to safety. We will have both of these games in stock very soon... hopefully once Toy Fair is completed.
GIANT Microbes: If you need something intelligent and fun, then check out GIANTMicrobes. They have key chains, vinyl figures, and plush figures of your "favorite" viruses and bacteria magnified 1,000,000 times. Some of the favorites they have created are common cold, kissing disease, MRSA, brain cell, chickenpox, and mad cow. This company has even created special collections just for the holidays, namely Valentines Day, Halloween, and Christmas.
Funko: Funko makes really cool vinyl figures and plush figures all based around popular pop culture! They make these for DC, Marvel, The Hobbit, Disney, and so much more. We currently carry some of their products, but we are excited to see all the new product that is not in the store yet.
Neca: Heroclix is one of the Wizkids products now made by Neca. Heroclix is coming on strong and with some many great licences like Lord of the Rings, Street Fighter, Marvel, DC, and Halo, it is no wonder. Thier newest line is a Star Trek ship to ship miniatures combat game. Another new game from Wizkids by Neca is Quarriors, a dice building game with a new expansion on the way. Licenced merchandise like Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Fall-out, Halo, and more. They make action figures, wall scrolls, bags, and so much more.
Monogram: Monogram creates many different products that use different licencing. They carry far more then we carry, but here are some of the ones we do carry; Marvel, Nightmare Before Christmas. They use the licence to make glasses, banks, travel mugs, key chains, and so much more.
Kotobukiya: This company makes some fantastic vinyl figures. Most of them are done as beautiful women and they cover lines such as Mass Effect 3, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Tekken, and more! This figures are fantastic with gorgeous detail. They also have a fantastic line of silicone ice cube trays and chopsticks. In this line they have Star Wars, DC Comics, and are introducing Alien. We have carried some of these products, but are now going to be getting NEW ones in March.
Mayfair: We stopped at Mayfair, and had a fantastic conversation about some new and forward thinking ideas. They gave us a ton of information about the Settlers of Catan National tournaments. We now understand what we can and cannot do, so we are ready to start running qualifiers for this great game! We also learned about a store-specific commercial. They have some fun characters on their website who will be a part of the commercial and we are excited to get copies of these.
Fantasy Flight: This company creates many differnet board games, card games, and role playing games. One of the newest games to come out soon is Star Wars X-Wing. This is a miniatures tactical space combat game. Star Wars Living Card Game is also coming out sometime this year. They did not have much information on this as it needed to be redone slightly.
Cryptozoioc: Stopping at Cryptozoic was mixed. They had some fact sheets, but not much else to see. Here are some of the big high-lights that we saw. They are planning several releases for Deck Building Games including Clash of Champions for World of Warcraft, DC Comics (part of the Cerberus game engine), also a Hobbit/LotR deck building game. They are also working on a Hobbit/LotR board game, hopefully coming out next year.
Nassau Candy: Jelly Belly, Branded/Licensed Candy, and bulk candy is what we saw at Nassau Candy. They things we really thought were great would be the Angry Birds, Mario, and Decade in a Box candies. So many great candies, and we even got a sample of their salt water taffy... which was fantastic!
Ata Boy: Magnets, Buttons, Stickers based on Princess Bride, Happy Bunny, DC, Marvel and Retro images. What more can I say, other then I want them in the store! So many great pop culture references and images. We are looking forward to carrying more of this line.
Royal & Langnickel: This company creates and sells paint brushes, palettes, and paints. We are very excited to find a company that sells high quality paint brushes at a very reasonable price! We will be carrying their line of brushes.
Asmodee: Dixit is one of those games that is an instant favorite. The art is fantastic and the game is about giving clues and bluffing/misleading your opponents. Timeline is a new game from Asmodee. It is a fast game with some great history lessons to share with the players. 7 Wonders, with its several expansions, gives you a fast paced game where you get to influnce one of the great civilizations of the world. This company makes some fun and fast games. Not a lot of time, check out Asmodee.
Hexbugs: They have a brand new item, Moshi Monster Bobble Bots! This is based on an online game that is HUGE in Great Britain, especially among girls. They have created this item using the Nano technology. They can be purchased in single packs, with houses, and with buildings. Hexbugs has also introduced several great holiday lines. Each one has a removable piece for the holiday; rabbit ears for Easter, antlers for Christmas, and a glow in the dark skeleton frame for Halloween! They also packaged them differently; Easter eggs, ornaments, and a coffin!
Konami: Yu-Gi-Oh!... What else can I say? Well I guess I can comment on all the different product coming out. We will see Ra Yellow Mega-Pack, Premium Collection tins, a new Starter, Galactic Overlord, and Hidden Arsenal 6. We will also get a very cool product, Battle Pack: Epic Dawn! This new pack will give players the chance to play Yu-Gi-Oh! in a sealed format!
Tenzi: This was a fun, super fast dice rolling game. The game was very simple to learn, and for a only $15 you get 40 D6 pipped dice! They come in 8 different colors, 4 to a pack. We had a blast playing this game, and managed to get all the dice on one side in 26 seconds.
Wood Expressions: We already carry many of their items, but are going to expand the depth of the product. They sell very common games like chess, checkers, solitaire, backgammon, cribbage and Chinese checkers. However, if you're looking for something like Shoot-the-Moon, Mah-Jong, Cathedral, Labyrinth and Mancala, they've got that too! We carry Wood Expressions for every customer type, from those who spend $15 on a beginner's checkers set to $150 for the collectors who want a carved marble chess board and pieces.
Set Game: Are you looking for a quick an interesting game? Are you looking for a game that will really push you to think? Then check out these games from Set: Xactika,Quiddler, Five Crowns, and Set! We demoed and played all 4 games in about 20 minutes. Now we did not finish the games, but we played several hands of each.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Magic Celebration 2012 Recap
Well the Magic Celebration is now over. So what did we see, and what did we notice:
Number of players:
In the first flight we ended up with 33 players total! The second event had 28 at the start. We had drops in almost every round as players finished up and felt their deck was not going to win. Getting a dual land and a foil land kind of hurts in this format... Well I have a feeling that having 61 players is a pretty good turnout for the Magic Celebration and I would love to know how other locations did.
FREE T-Shirts:
We had many people excited about getting a free t-shirt! I think was a masterful plan by Wizards and really helped the local stores. No internet sales for that t-shirt!!! We ended up selling out of the t-shirts by 2:00pm and with 8... yes I said 8 t-shirts, they went really FAST!
Digital Download Promo Cards:
Well many people were wondering why the choice was Jace, Chandra, and Gideon... I kept telling people maybe it was a Red, White, and Blue thing... I mean maybe with Remembrance Day tomorrow, maybe Wizards was being Patriotic. If they went with the same colors as the promo titans for the game then it would have been Jace, Chandra, and Liliana... but that would not have been as patriotic. The cards each have a unique digital item code one for Steam, PS3, and Xbox 360.
In the end, this event was fantastic for Magic and Wizards of the Coast. It allowed players to have some fun and get a bunch of FREE stuff! I'm very happy to see Wizards doing something this fantastic for the players. Now to see how all of this effects our Planeswalker points and all that new stuff. And now for all the questions about Planeswalker Points... but we'll save that for another day.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Number of players:
In the first flight we ended up with 33 players total! The second event had 28 at the start. We had drops in almost every round as players finished up and felt their deck was not going to win. Getting a dual land and a foil land kind of hurts in this format... Well I have a feeling that having 61 players is a pretty good turnout for the Magic Celebration and I would love to know how other locations did.
FREE T-Shirts:
We had many people excited about getting a free t-shirt! I think was a masterful plan by Wizards and really helped the local stores. No internet sales for that t-shirt!!! We ended up selling out of the t-shirts by 2:00pm and with 8... yes I said 8 t-shirts, they went really FAST!
Digital Download Promo Cards:
Well many people were wondering why the choice was Jace, Chandra, and Gideon... I kept telling people maybe it was a Red, White, and Blue thing... I mean maybe with Remembrance Day tomorrow, maybe Wizards was being Patriotic. If they went with the same colors as the promo titans for the game then it would have been Jace, Chandra, and Liliana... but that would not have been as patriotic. The cards each have a unique digital item code one for Steam, PS3, and Xbox 360.
In the end, this event was fantastic for Magic and Wizards of the Coast. It allowed players to have some fun and get a bunch of FREE stuff! I'm very happy to see Wizards doing something this fantastic for the players. Now to see how all of this effects our Planeswalker points and all that new stuff. And now for all the questions about Planeswalker Points... but we'll save that for another day.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Gen Con 2011 The Best 4 Days of Gaming
Welcome back from the "BEST 4 DAYS OF GAMING" also know as Gen Con!
So we got back from Gen Con last night, and it was a fantastic show! We had a chance to try many different games, check out product that is not released just yet, and see all the greatest product that could be seen. We are going to share some pictures, share some stories, and give some insight into some games. To make life easy, I'm breaking it down by vendor so you can see the different areas you'd like more info about. So if you are ready to read on and want to learn more, continue through the trip to Gen Con 2011!
Wizards of the Coast:
Wizkids:
What can I say about Wizkids other then WOW! The new Star Trek game that involves fleets of Federation and Klingon ships looks amazing. The price point at first looked a bit high, until you started to count up all the ships you got in the base game. We would love to get a copy of this game a give it a try to get the Trek fans into a great looking ship to ship minis game. Another game that they had out was Quarriors! Quarriors is a fantastic game involving dice that is similar to the deck building games. We had such a blast playing this game, that I had to buy a copy for myself then and there. It played fast and had the option of adding new abilities to the dice without having to make all new dice. We will be demoing this game soon and getting players excited to try a new type of game. I really can't talk about Wizkids without mentioning the Heroclix. They had a number of great items out for sale including Heroclix, Street Fight, and Gears of War... BUT the items that had people looking were the painted pieces (not on bases) of The Lord of the Rings and Pathfinder. They all looked great! Check back as more information becomes available we will be writing more.
AEG:
We had the opportunity to go over and talk with the people at AEG as well as attending their Big Game Night. I would have liked a little more structure to the big game night and maybe in an area that was a little quieter so that we could really check out the games. We did have a chance to play Ninja, which is a very secretive board game involving Ninjas and guards set in the L5R world.. It was a blast! We will have a copy in this week and will be running some demo games to give players a chance to check it out. We also got a chance to see Thunderstone, Parthenon, and Legend of the 5 Rings CCG. AEG has a bunch of really great games out now and if you are looking to give something new a try, they would make a great choice.
Gary Games:
Gary Games is the publisher of the game Ascension. This is a great deck building game that was created by a number of Magic players who were looking for another game to play between Magic. The same design group also created Redakai, but we can talk about that later. I had a chance to play in a tournament for Ascension, but sadly came in second in my pod, so did not advance. They also had a number of great promo cards that you could pick up at their booth. We also had a chance to discuss the Dragon's Den becoming a part of the Game Day program that they run, so hopefully we will be a part of the next one which is coming up soon.
Fantasy Flight Games:
Well the big announcement here was that Fantasy Flight Games picked up the rights for Star Wars. To show case this, they had several games on display and were running demo games of several of them. Star Wars X-Wing looked fantastic! It is a miniatures ship to ship combat game that takes a few elements from Wings of War. Instead of a deck of cards for movement, each ship has a disk that you pick your movement from and place face down next to the ship (for that hidden movement similar to Wings of War). They used different templates then for movement and attacks. They kept some of the flavor with the weapons and abilities on the different star fighters, but we only got to see the X-Wing and Tie Fighter. They also did a new card game for the Star Wars universe, but we did not get a chance to demo that game. Some other items of note at the booth would be their release of the Gears of War board game and the new revised edition of Dust Tactics.
Plaid Hat:
Plaid Hat is the maker of Summoner Wars.They have a new starter box that will be coming out in a month or so... or maybe we will have several copies in a few days! We had the chance to demo the game with them at Gen Con, and they allowed us to get a few copies while we were there. The new starter has new factions, which if I remember correctly is an addition 6 new factions. It also has a double board so that it is a little easier to play on and see your side of the board.
I hope that you have found some new information or got to experience some of the Gen Con trip from the write up. We will be adding more information over the week and get some other impressions so you can hear about some other games and events. There will always be more to add about Gen Con, but I think this is long enough, so watch for the next post soon.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Magic 2012 Prerelease and Launch Party Events July
As we get set up for our weekend of crazy prerelease events, I thought I would take some time to post some bits and blurbs from the Magic 2012 Prerelease. We will begin with a Midnight event Saturday morning. Many people get confused by this, which is why I will clarify it is Saturday morning and not Friday morning! So with that in mind, here is a list of our events we will run for the weekend:
So we ended up with 74 for the midnight event and another 28 for the noon that day! With over 100 players doing sealed it was a great day. We saw all the Planeswalkers during the course of the events and we even had one player pull 2 different ones in the midnight event Saturday. Sundays events were much smaller, but it did bring the total number of players in all the events closer to 150 (counting all the drafts).
Launch Party we did a Draft and ended up with 29 players. It was a great turn out on a Friday night for draft and so many players are now getting excited for the set. I've now heard many players talking about combos and how the new cards will work in Standard.
- Midnight Saturday July 9: Sealed
- Noon Saturday July 9: Sealed
- 5:00pm Saturday July 9: Draft
- Noon Sunday July 10: Sealed
- 2:00pm Sunday July 10: Draft
- Open Play both days with the Intro Decks
So we ended up with 74 for the midnight event and another 28 for the noon that day! With over 100 players doing sealed it was a great day. We saw all the Planeswalkers during the course of the events and we even had one player pull 2 different ones in the midnight event Saturday. Sundays events were much smaller, but it did bring the total number of players in all the events closer to 150 (counting all the drafts).
Launch Party we did a Draft and ended up with 29 players. It was a great turn out on a Friday night for draft and so many players are now getting excited for the set. I've now heard many players talking about combos and how the new cards will work in Standard.