Toy Fair 2014 Part 1

So we went to Toy Fair this weekend and saw some amazing new games and gift items.  There are so many different items that we may not be able to post them all in one blog post... we may need more!  So here are some interesting things we got from several different vendors:

Wizkids Games:

A great classic pose for Wolverine (Days of Future Past). The next wave of Star Trek Attack Wing and Deep Space 9. The new Dice Master game was also great. It is starting with Avengers vs X-men, but they already have more ideas coming.

Here is a picture of the NEXT wave of Attack Wing ships for Star Trek.  These aren't the ships due out next week, but the ones coming out in the next wave.  

Here is a picture of the complete Deep Space 9 prize for the Dominion War month 6 event.  The card under the station can be flipped over so you can field DS9 as Federation or Independent.  

I got to see the back area of their booth, but no photos allowed. They had unpainted 3D prints I of the dragons for the D&D Attack Wing... WOW! These dragons are in flight and are massive. They had 6 dragons on display and even unpainted were recognizable as Red, Blue, Black, Green, Bronze, and one other. This version of Attack Wing will also have ground troops, but they didn't have any to show off yet. 

Fantasy Flight Games:


Fantasy Flight Games had all the Star Wars X-wing miniatures out. The big ships ships look amazing... but not coming soon. Imperial Aces will be coming out the end of February or beginning of March. The Rebel Transport about 2 months later and the Blockade Runner about 2 months after that. They also had prototypes of the next wave of Ships, all from extended universe.








They also had a board game adaptation of The Witcher and a fast-paced card game for A Game of Thrones.

As we get in all these great games we will have them for sale in all three stores.  We will also be running events for many of these games, so check out our calendars for more information about events.  Click on the store name that is closest to you to see our calendar of events per store.

Dragon's Den Poughkeepsie

Gamer's Gambit CT

Gamer's Gambit NJ



Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Wizkids Miniatures - What is coming out soon!

There are so many new miniatures coming out from Wizkids this year.  They have Marvel, DC, and Yu-Gi-Oh Heroclixs, Star Trek Attack Wing, and the brand new Dungeons & Dragons miniature line.  So what does that mean???

Heroclix

February: Yu-Gi-Oh Series 1
March: Marvel, Captain America, The Winter Soldier
April: Marvel, X-men - Days of Future Past
May: Marvel, Deadpool
June: DC, War of the Light - Begins
August: Marvel, Guardians of the Galaxy

Star Trek Attack Wing

April: Federation USS Voyager, Bioship Alpha, Nistrim Raider, Borg Sphere 4270
June: Borg Tactical Cube, Bajoran Interceptor Five, Vulcan D'kyr
July: Borg Soong, Federation USS Enterprise (Refit), Dominion Battle Cruiser
August: Borg Scout Cube, Federation Enterprise, Vulcan Ni'Var
September: Borg Queen Vessel Prime, Federation USS Enterprise-E, Independent Val Jean
October: Defiant Mirror Universe, Klingon Chang's Bird of Prey, Romulan Scimitar

Dungeons & Dragons

So we will be getting new D&D miniatures.  So far the few they have shown look great.  They will be debuting the set with the release of the new D&D Next this summer.  They are also releasing a D&D version of Attack Wing!  The starter box will include 3 different colored dragons, cards (riders, upgrades, etc), and templates and rules.  Click on the Dungeons & Dragons link to read more from Wizkids about this release.

Oh, but maybe you are looking for something with less minis and more dice?  Then you might want to check out Avengers vs X-men Dice Masters.  A new dice building game where you collect and assemble a team of character dice.  This game will be releasing in March, so come and check it out.

Curious when we play?  Check out our calendars:

Dragon's Den
Gamer's Gambit NJ
Gamer's Gambit CT

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Star Trek Games

Even if you are not a Trekkie, the new releases for Star Trek games have been huge and well worth checking out!  Now if you are a Trekkie... then you really need to see some of the games!

Miniature

Heroclix by Wizkids, created Star Trek: Tactics!  The game is... wait for it... Heroclix!  When you open the starter box you get the Heroclix 2011 Core Rulebook, and Powers and Abilities Card.  The Starter also comes with 4 fully painted miniatures: USS Enterprise -A, USS Rhode Island, IKS Rotarran, and IKS Bortas. 

Each ship comes with a stat card which gives you the Trekkie abilities to correspond with the super hero powers. 

The starter also comes with 2 double sided maps, each one with a very different effect on the battle.

Deck Building Game 

Star Trek The Next Generation deck building game was recently released by Bandai.  In the true deck building craze... which if you don't know what these are, then you need to check out some greats like Dominion and Thunderstone, you start with a basic hand and then acquire cards to build your deck  Back to Star Trek TNG deck build though, the game offers some great diversity right out of the box. 

There are 3 different versions of the game: Exploration: a free for all scenario, Borg Invasion: a cooperative scenario, and Klingon Civil War: a 2 vs 2 team scenario. The game has 300 cards and can be played with 2 to 5 players.  Oh, and if you come in, we do have some really cool promo Jean-Luc Picard cards!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

New Wizkids & Pathfinder Miniatures

It is official: the new miniatures for the Pathfinder RPG are out, and they are awesome.
The rumors of a new line of plastic miniatures were well-known before Gen Con 2011, and we were treated to a view of 6 preview minis when a coworker & myself stopped by the Wizkids booth. While they were fairly good looking, I was dubious that the entire line would be treated the same.

Needless to say, I had nothing to fear.  As I found when the cases of product showed up on Jan. 11th, ALL the miniatures are great, and the product is packaged quite nicely, both as a counter top display or for the serious collector.

An entire display has 19 boosters in it; 16 small boosters and 3 large boosters.  The MSRP for the large are $5.99 and the smalls are $3.99.  Each booster, regardless of size has one figure in it, unless you count the goblins. As they are easily the smallest minis in the set, there are 2 goblins per booster.

We opened up 3 displays for the store, and got 31 of the 40 miniatures in the set, with only a few being duplicates. (Not that we minded, as they all went in our 8 ft. long glass minis case for sale!) If you're curious, here's the ones we pulled along with their names underneath each picture.

Half-Elf Cleric, Orc Brute, Orc Warrior, Skeleton

Elf Wizard, Medusa, Lizardfolk Champion, Dwarf Fighter 

Half-Orc Barbarian, Seelah-Human Paladin, Human Ranger, Zombie

Lich, Vampire, Human Druid, Venomous Snake

Mummy, Werewolf, Giant Spider, Human Rogue

Gargoyle, Troll, Wolf

Giant Caveweaver Spider, Minotaur

Ettin, Chimera

Goblin Warrior 1, Goblin Hero 2, Goblin Hero 1, Goblin Warrior 2

And, of course, what would any set be without the limited edition collector's piece? 

In this case, that means the ultra-desirable Huge Black Dragon, (only available to retailers who bought 4 displays!) which is conveniently labelled as "Promo 1" on the bottom of the base.  Hopefully this will mean they'll continue to put out more sets, and more promos!

Personally, I think these miniatures are one of the best ideas that Wizkids/Pathfinder could've had.  With the loss of D&D miniatures (both as a product AND game), it is quite refreshing to see a company recognize that;

A) players want minis to represent their characters/enemies and

B) that all RPGers are, in essence, like addicted magpies with ADHD when it comes to collecting needless bits of colorful plastic.

Ok, reason B might be just me...

But seriously, I truly like this set, and the fact that it has only 40 minis as opposed to the 60 that Wizards formerly put out means it is that much easier to complete your collection.  In a way, this is a plus for DMs too: If you desperately need wolves, goblins and zombies, you have a great chance of pulling what you need.  Also, the bottom of each base has not only the name but also the number of the mini you're currently holding, printed in bright white paint. D&D minis essentially had the same, but theirs wasn't as easy to read as it was simply stamped on.

Would I have picked some other minis to make for the first set? Yes.

Do I want to see more of the unique characters from the books made next time? Certainly.

Will I still buy the last dribble of D&D minis boosters from my job? Of course!

But am I now also hopelessly addicted to these new minis, and will I tell all my role-playing customers to buy them? 

Do you even have to ask?

Stasi "Dengirl" King

Quarriors! Rise of the Demons Review

So I'm a little behind on reviewing some new expansions and games, but when I saw this one came in I had to crack it open and check it out.  I was so excited to see Quarriors when I was at Gen Con that I had to pick it up then.  I had heard that there was going to be an expansion before the holidays, but I had not had a chance to grab it. 

Opening the small black and green box reveals a small rules insert.  The rules add-on to the game are fairly simple and are about half a sheet of paper.  Below that there are new dice and new cards.  There are 20 new dice and 19 new cards.  The new dice come in three different varieties, including a Corrupted Quiddity (10 dice), Demonic Overlord (5 dice), and Corruption Spell (5 dice).  The cards offer some fantastic new variants to old favorite creatures as well as some new to this set cards.  The old favorites from the original game are all "Corrupted" versions and use the original dice.  For the original monsters there 10 cards, and for the new Demonic Overlord there are 4 different cards.  The Corruption spell also has 4 different levels.  The most interesting card is the Corrupted Quiddity.   It is the first die to give you the chance to get a 0 for Quiddity on the roll... so you can roll and get nothing!

Well I'm looking forward to sitting down and playing this expansion with my play test group, as they are always up for a game! They loved the original and a chance to play with some new spells and monsters will get them excited to play again!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Quarriors the Dice Game by Wizkids

While out at Gen Con this year, I had the chance to try a new DICE building game so similar to all the great DECK building games called Quarriors by Wizkids! So let's open the box... or in this case the tin, and see what's inside.

Inside the box:

The first thing you notice with the collector's tin is that it is shaped like a die and has the markings on each side corresponding to the Dragon die in the game.  It is a very nice look, and I think will appeal to many players and collectors.  Once you open it up, you find 4 dice bags of different colors (Black, Blue, Green, and Red).  The dice bags are the same color as the tokens used per player to track victory points.  The next item is the rule book.  The rules are very straight forward and easy to understand, so easy in fact that my 8 year old was playing in no time!  Further down is the tracking card used for keeping track of victory points.  The victory points vary depending on the number of players; 12 for a 4 player game, 15 for a 3 play game, and 20 for a 2 player game. The tray below the rule book and tracking sheet contains the ability cards for the dice. There are 3 different types of cards; Basic, Spell, and Creature.  The cards represent different levels for the dice, so that they can make promo cards that will change the way the dice results are seen.  There is also a small area for the tracking cubes, again in matching colors to the dice bag.  The final thing in the tin are the dice! There 130 dice in 15 different varieties.  The dice correspond to the cards, and the cards represent different levels of the dice.

Playing the game:

So now that we have pulled apart the box, lets look at the game.  If you have played any of the deck building games, then you have an idea of how to play Quarriors... just think dice instead of cards.  You start the game with the 3 basic resource cards, 3 different spell cards, and 7 different creature cards.  Remember to shuffle the groups of cards separately so you can draw from each group.  Next have each player chose a color for their dice bag and victory point token.  Give each player 8 Quiddity Dice (the basic die), and 4 Assistant Dice.  This is your starting allocation of dice.  Each players turn will follow the same steps, so I'll detail one player from the beginning:

1. Score Creatures
2. Draw and Roll Dice (Remember to shuffle... shake the dice bag) (Draw 6 without looking)
3. Ready Spells and Summon Creatures (Optional)
4. Attack Your Rivals
5. Capture 1 Quarry Die from the Wilds (Optional)
6. Move Dice to Your Used Pile

So then all you have to do is pass your turn to the player on the left and repeat! One key rule, just like with the deck building games, you don't gather and reshuffle your dice until you need to draw a die and you can't.  You just wait until then and then pick them all up and put them back in the dice bag.  Continue playing until you reach the correct number of victory points.

So I've had a lot of fun playing this game so far, and I can't wait for it to become available... or is it??? We are hoping to get this great game in at the store, we are just waiting to learn about availability.  As it looks like they will have an expansion out this fall, I'd like to see both in the store soon.

I'd like to thank my little group of play testers... also know as Alex, Aiden, and Emily.  They were great, and really enjoyed the game! With and age range from 8 to 16, they picked up the rules and concept quickly, and ask to play the game frequently.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

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:

There is a lot to talk about with WotC. They had a great booth set up as a ruined castle, and a live action D&D event behind it.  The booth was amazing as was the D&D Mega Adventure that was set up through out Gen Con with QR Codes.  The players got into trying to find the codes and earn points for their faction.  All of this was for the soon to be released Neverwinter campaign setting.  Away from the booth you show the two locations for all the events: The Sagamore Ball Room and the TCG Hall.  At the TCG hall you had so many Magic events, it was almost overwhelming, with the highlight being Nationals!  So many players going in and between events, it was incredible to see.  Upstairs in the Sagamore there was Dungeons and Dragons. It was not just the RPG though, they also had 3 Dragon Ante, all the board games, and the D&D National event as well.A big announcement was for the Lords of Waterdeep board game which is a Euro style board game set in the Dungeons and Dragons world.

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