Catalyst Game Labs at GAMA 2012

Catalyst Game Labs has some great games out already and more fantastic ones to come!  They have some properties that many players may know already and some new ones that will get some attention once they release.  So lets start with some that you may know!


Shadowrun

This is the classic Shadowrun game you may remember from the early 1990s.  Many people feel that the game has disappeared, but it has been around for a long time!  Catalyst Game Labs has some new product coming out, one of which is the Runners Toolkit.  The toolkit has a GM screen, cheat sheets, and compiled charts for weapons and equipment.  This is a must have item if you are already playing, or if you are thin king about checking out the game.  They are also hoping to get a line of miniatures out for Shadowrun.  This will be fantastic for adding to game play! I personally can't wait to see how they do the Street Samurais and Deckers.

Battletech

The 25th Anniversary box set was fantastic!  If you aren't sure, then you can check and see how often they have had to reprint it!  The pieces could have had a little more detail, but they are good for getting players into the game.  They also included 2 premium figures (Thor and Loki) which are very nice.  Catalyst Game Labs will also be bringing out new box sets to introduce intermediate and advanced rules... with minis to enhance your games. 

Some other great games

• Hexagon
• Abstract pawn jumping game
• Family style game
• Linear
• Gem stones
• Line making game like Bejeweled
• Abstract
• Balance of Power
• Kings, Bankers, and Generals... who will win?
• The Duke
• Tile laying game
• Feels like chess

Leviathans

Saving the best... or most interesting, for last!  Leviathans is a game that has hit many speed bumps since it was showcased at Gen Con 2011 with massive replicas at the booth.  It looks like they are closer now to releasing this game and maybe we will see it after Gen Con 2012.  So let me give you some quick points about this very interesting miniatures/board game:

• Set in 1910
• Airship Battles
• Aerial height system
• Possible water units as well
• Prepainted Miniatures
• Lightly colored and easily repainted
• Color coded D12s
• 3 sets of rules: Basic to advanced
• Hex Maps, same scale as Battletech maps
• Multi player and Team play
• Looking at an RPG set in the world
• Starter box will include British vs French

If you are looking to try any of these great games, stop in and ask us about them.  We would love to discuss them with you and show you what we have.  We are hoping to maybe run some events for Leviathans or maybe even offer to help them with getting this going!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Soda Pop at GAMA 2012

What can we say about this company... WOW!

Soda Pop was at GAMA and they had so many fantastic products to show off, including a new card game not out yet... but I will get to that soon.  So we will have to break down everything that they had there, and discuss some of the new product that is soon to come out. 

Oh, and if you have not checked these games out, Candy and Cola are in every game!

Super Dungeon Explore

We will have this back in stock soon.  We are very excited for this game and can't wait to get it back in stock.  If you have not played yet, then you should.  This multi-player game pits the players vs the Consul!  The Consul controls the monsters who are there to stop the players from getting treasure.  The style of the minis is cute anime, but don't let that fool you, the game play is spectacular.

We have a staff member here at the Den who built a custom 3D board for Super Dungeon Explore so that he could run quick and easy demos of the game.  He is also painting up every piece... including the LE Candy and Cola!  Check out the 3D game board with lots of each bits to make it look more like an icy dungeon:

Relic Knights

This game started as minis only, that then became a game with it's own rule set.  They are fantastic!  The game play is very fast paced with lots of strategy.  The minis are also fantastic... I just can't say it enough.  This game is Sci-Fi based with an anime theme.  The minis are not assembled and unpainted, so you can make them as nice as possible or as simple as you like.  This game also uses no dice... yes, I said no dice!  You use a deck and trust your luck to that deck.

Tentacle Bento

Do you like anime?  Do you think you could be an alien tentacle monster?  Could you snatch up school girls in a plot to take over the world?  Then this is the card game for you!  This Rummy style card game is not released yet, but we got to play it at GAMA.  The game involves taking tricks involving a student, a location, and a situation called a snatch!  If they are all in the same suite (sporty, smart, sexy, or cute) that is a royal snatch, if not... it's a sloppy snatch.  If you get a royal snatch, then the game changes slightly, like changing direction of play. 

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Lords of Waterdeep Boardgame

Well, it is finally here...the first Euro-style game made by Wizards of the Coast...Lords of Waterdeep! Journey back to the Forgotten Realms and try your hand at the game of intrigue, adventure and bribery as one of the many rulers of Waterdeep, the City of Splendors.

A new attempt at Euro-gaming, the Lords of Waterdeep is a beautifully made 2-5 player game.  According to the selling blurb, it is meant to be played in about 1 hour by players 12 yrs. and older, though I'm sure any child who has been introduced to the Forgotten Realms campaigns or novels would certainly be able to play. The fact that every game only takes 8 rounds should be able to keep every one's attention. Now, without further ado, let's see what's inside...

Upon first cracking the box, we first notice a folded board, many different colored tokens/markers, a rulebook, player mats and various cards. On the right side, we have buildings and 1GP coins.  On the left, 5GP coins, control markers, and various Victory Point tokens. Everything is well-packaged, but will take a while to sort! Quite luckily, you have me to do that for you...

While I'm punching everything out, let's take a look at the board. It represents all the Wards that you will need to build on and assign Agents to, and has spaces for Quest Cards, Buildings, the Intrigue Deck, and various Discard piles. The "stones" around the perimeter track player points, and the golden "track" near the bottom right marks the current round.

Alright, everything is set up now, so let's take a look...First, there are the player-specific Mats, one each for the groups controlling Waterdeep. These are (from left to right); City Guard, Harpers, Knights of the Shield, Silverstars and Red Sashes. Underneath each Mat, I've placed each of the relevant pieces. The meeple is an Agent, the circle is the Score Marker, the small token is the Building Control Marker and the large token is the specific Victory Point Counter. The amount of Agents each player has depends on the number of players per game.

In addition, there are two Neutral Agents; the Ambassador and the Lieutenant. They can only be added to your Agent Pool by use of certain effects. The Tower piece is given to the First Player, and events occur toward the left. There are also four types of Adventurers; Fighter/Orange, Wizard/Purple, Rogue/Black and Cleric/White. They are required to accomplish Quests, and form part of the Supply. The second part of the Supply is made up of Gold Pieces and Victory Points. Below are the fronts (top) and backs (bottom) of the 5GP, 1 GP and Victory Points.

And now...on to the cards. Below we have each of the Lords of Waterdeep. The bonuses listed for your chosen Lord are based on various combinations of Buildings, Piety, Commerce, Warfare, Arcana and Skullduggery. Choose carefully, as your Victory Point bonus could make or break the game for you!

Next, we have the Intrigue Cards, which include everything from "Call in a Favor" and "Assassination" to "Sample Wares" and "Research Agreement", and many others besides. By judicious use of these cards, you'll be able to both advance your agenda and foil those of your opponents...or will you?

Remember, not only do you have to watch out for the opposing Agents, but you must gain your own Victory Points and Gold by completing Quest Cards and the much-sought-after Plot Quests, which give other bonuses! Although you may perform one Quest per turn, beware of adversaries who play a Mandatory Quest on you. No other Quests can be completed until the Mandatory Quest has been fully accomplished. Don't let yourself be sucked into too much Intrigue!

Last, but definitely not least, and the Buildings. There are nine Basic Buildings, and 24 Advanced Buildings. All nine Basics are always available to assign Agents to, but the remaining 24 must be purchased during the game. Each Building has a bit of information on what effects it does, as well as where it is located in traditional Waterdeep. However, the purchaser is not limited by this "history" and can place an Advanced Building wherever she wants. Anywhere up to three Advanced Buildings are available for purchase, but there are only ten empty spaces, so buy carefully!

Having trouble keeping track of it all? Don't worry, the rulebook is a wonderfully simple 24 pages of game mastery. It contains full color pictures, photos of items, play sequences and even FOUR illustrated appendixes for the Lords, Clarifications, Agents and Buildings! Concerned about needing plastic bags or boxes to keep all the meeples and tokens in place? Fear not, as the WotC design crew have made not only the best compartments with which to hold their creation, but what is conceivably the most aesthetic as well. If I may be so bold, I would suggest this is a new step towards something trully fulfilling and sucessful for our friends at Wizards of the Coast!

-Stasi "Dengirl" King

Vanguard and Monsuno New CCGs at the Dragon's Den

So you have played Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, or even Pokemon, but now it is time to give a new game a try! With the release of two brand new Collectible Card Game (CCGs) to the market, I thought it would be a good idea to do a quick little blog post about them both.

Cardfight!! Vanguard

This is a hot new CCG that uses a very different type of card mechanic and play area layout.  One very interesting side note about Cardfight!! Vanguard, is that they are sized like a Yu-Gi-Oh! card, so smaller size... finally another use for those smaller sleeves!

The game is designed around having a card in play that is your Vanguard or avatar that you use to attack and defend.  You start with a level 0 Vanguard, and can give it a Rider to increase the level.  You can also play Rear-Guards, but they must be equal or lower level then your Vanguard.  When your Vanguard is hit in combat, look at the critical score on the attacker, and you take that much damage.  When you take 6 damage, you lose... or if you have no cards to draw!

Here are some examples of the larger creatures... and in a very cool foil pattern!  Notice that they have a number of powers: constant and activated.  They also have some serious increase in power level.

The starter comes with a full deck ready to play right out of the box!  It is geared toward a clan and makes it easy to start learning the game. 

Monsuno

This CCG is based on  a TV show with the same name.  The starter is really cool as it allows 2 players to get involved right away with 2 different options for the starters.  It also comes with a booster so that you can customize your deck right out of the starter.  Below is a picture showing off the Monsuno cards for one of the starters: Core-Tech vs Eklipse!

The decks contains Monsumo cards and Strike cards.  Your deck most contain a minimum of 40 Strike Cards and exactly 3 different Monsumo cards with a launch total of no more then 15.  Each deck may contain up to 3 of any given card, but only 1 of a card with keyword Unique.

The game is broken down into turns and each player may do one of three different things: Launch a Ready Monsumo, Attack, or Recover. Combat is broken down into 3 steps: Draw a card from the Strike Deck, choose a card and play it facedown, and both cards are reveled and players check to see which card Dominates.

If you want to learn more, then stop in and give one a try!  I hope you stop in and want to give a new CCG a try.  These games look great and I can't wait to play both so that I get some more experience with each!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Staff at the Dragon's Den 2012

We have had many people stop in and ask... "So do you work here?"  I thought that maybe the staff shirts with our store logo would be a dead give away that we staff here in the store, but then again...

So here is current staff as of 2012.  We took this picture of the staff to use in the Power Retailer Awards for GAMA, and we never got to put it in.  So not to let a fun picture go to waste, I thought I would put it in our blog for everyone on the interweb... I mean the world wide network... maybe ever faceyspace... or twitterpages...

Playing Pieces

Front: Jessica, Amanda, Brittani (dndprincessaria), Stasi (dengirl)

Middle: Bob

Back: Alex, Sean (striderlotr), Scott (therageking), Stan, Rachel, Dave
Not in picture: Soyla

So if you stop in and are wondering who to talk to, well here is what each of the pieces to this great game can do:

Power Behind the Throne: Soyla, Webmaster

King: Dave, Regional Manager... knows some of everything in the store!
Queen: Sean, Store Manager... knows some of everything in the store!

Rook: Stasi, Purchasing Manager... does the purchasing for the store
Rook: Rachel, ebay/shipping

Knight: Bob, lead video game technician
Knight: Alex, video game technician

Bishop: Scott, Comic book manager
Bishop: Brittani, RPG maven

Pawn: Amanda, Cashier/Comics
Pawn: Jessica, Cashier/Retro Games
Pawn: Stan, Miniatures Minion

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

This Week in Comics

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. New 52 Wave Two The Second Wave of DC's New 52 starts in May. Take a peek now. Don' forget: Pre-ordering is the best way to guarantee you get your comics! Pre-orders for product shipping in May are due by Tuesday, March 20th EARTH TWO #1 by James Robinson and Nicola Scott The multiverse returns! James Robinson, who wrote the classic JSA story THE GOLDEN AGE, gets his hands on Earth-2, home of Jay Garrick, Alan Scott and (possibly) other Justice Society characters. Not a lot of information out there about this one, yet, but I imagine we'll hear more soon. Given all the changes made to the "main" Earth of The New 52, it's hard to say what'll have changed on Earth Two. We'll find out in May. Comixology Link ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. GI COMBAT #1 by JT Krul, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and more. This looks like a MUCH stronger attempt at a war book than either Blackhawks or Men at War.  Smart move on DC's part, using one of their "old" war titles to give this genre another chance. I have to tell you, I'm curious to see what Palmiotti and Gray do with the UNKNOWN SOLDIER. I think this is going to do much better than either of the aforementioned titles did last fall. Comixology Link ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. BATMAN, INC #1 by Grant Morrisson and Chris Burnham The end of Morrisson's Batman run is nigh; With the identity of Leviathan now revelaled, the last act of this years-long story kicks into gear. I don't know how long this book will go for, but it's Grant doing his thing. The Batman graphic novels are our best sellers, and besides the classic Bat-books (YEAR ONE, LONG HALLOWEEN, DKR), the Grant Morrisson volumes are our fastest movers. If you read BATMAN, INC before the New 52, this is merely a continuation of that series and the one-shot BATMAN: LEVIATHAN that came out a month or two back. Time to jump back into the madness, Morrison is back. Comixology Link ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. WORLD'S FINEST #1 by Paul Levitz, George Perez & others Huntress and Power Girl are stuck on our Earth, and want to go home. This is an interesting idea: re-using one of DC's better-known titles (and catchphrases) and assigning it to two female characters. The Huntress mini-series has done extraordinarily well here, but the pre-New 52 (ugh, hate typing that) Power Girl was a very poor seller. Given how much grief DC got last summer at San Diego about the lack of female characters and creators involved in the re-launch, I'm glad to see that they've honored two popular characters with their own book. WORLD'S FINEST looks like it's going to detail the adventures of two super-heroes trying to get back home. Levitz' writing on Huntress has been spot-on. I think this is going to be great. Comixology Link ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. DIAL H by China Mievelle and Mateus Santolouco It gives you power, but want to destroy the world. A device powerful enough to help you become a hero, but power always come at a price. Best selling novelist China Mievelle jumps into The New 52 with a dark story, told in the vein of ANIMAL MAN and SWAMP THING. This book looks like it'll be playing on the edges of the DCU, while telling great stories. Should be fun. Comixology Link. ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. RAVAGERS #1 by Howard Mackie and Ian Churchill. GEN 13 Return- Wait, no I think I got that wrong. Sorry folks, I saw Caitlin Fairchild busting out of her clothes on the cover, and had a "I want all 13 covers" flashback. (Points to anyone who knows what that one means.) Spinning out of SUPERBOY and "The Culling" storyline, Fairchild and a mix of new and old heroes are on the run, while trying to work together. It's like Teen Titans, but with a twist or three. Glad to see some more of my Wildstorm characters making a return. Comixology Link ®, ™ and © 2012 DC Comics. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2012 Dragon's Den, All rights reserved. Here is one of those emails we promised you when you signed up as part of the Denizen Discount Program when you were shopping at Dragon's Den. Our mailing address is: Dragon's Den 2600 South Road Poughkeepsie Plaza Poughkeepsie, New York 12601 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Dragon's Den Players of the Year for Magic Update

We have been running a Player of the Year for Magic in the store since the beginning of the year.  We have broken the this award into four different categories: Free Standard, Competitive Standard, Legacy, and Limited.  As we have been running this almost 2 months, I thought I'd post a quick little standing of the top 8 players so far for each category.  So with 10 more months left to be a part of the Player of the Year here at the Dragon's Den, you should come in and play!

Free Standard: Top 8 of 136

Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Elijah Vanaver	118	50
2	Niko Peone	96	40
3	Mike Cox	72	37
4	Scott Fish	72	43
5	Evan Odden	72	53
6	Dave Oppenheimer	66	34
7	Alex Sherman	58	28
8	John Franczak	57	31

Competitive Standard: Top 8 of 37

Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Steve Carpenter	39	19
2	Kevin Jones	36	15
3	Doug Kimball	29	11
4	Alex Sherman	25	16
5	Scott Fish	21	16
6	Carl Naumann	19	12
7	Will Cuttler	18	8
8	Daniel Stockton	18	11

Legacy: Top 8 of 32

Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Paul Lake	45	19
2	James Rynkiewicz	38	15
3	Frank Kick	30	14
4	Casey Madrick	30	15
5	Janene Andersen	24	14
6	Darryl Moss	21	12
7	Rich Cali	21	14
8	Nicholas Albonese	15	8

Limited: Top 8 of 129

Rank	Name	Points	Matches
1	Paul Lake	27	10
2	Alex Sherman	26	10
3	David Haass	24	8
4	Marcos Martinez	22	14
5	Kevin Jones	21	7
6	Mike Cox	21	10
7	Brooke Schieffer	19	9
8	Doug Kimball	18	7

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

GIZA The Great Pyramid

In this new 2-4 player game by Mayfair, you play as the leader of an Egyptian city. Pharaoh is concerned that his Great Pyramid will not be finished in time for his journey to the Underworld, and needs the help of his best cities in supplying additional labor. To win the Pharaoh's favor, you must send more laborers to complete the Great Pyramid than the other players!

When you first open the box, you will see the rulebook and the game board. The rulebook is 12 pages long, and is extremely detailed, perfect for those who have never played a board game. It includes information on Game Setup, Components, How To Play, Executing Turns, Scoring and Game End. It even has a very helpful scoring table for use during the game.

The board itself is a work of art. Not only is it beautifully done in neo-Egyptian artwork, but it is a  hard 1 piece fold-out.  In my experience, this eliminates people losing the separate board pieces or bumping into 1 half of it.

Underneath those are the Player Aid Screens (left side) and the tiles and tokens (right side). Each player gets 1 color-coded reversible screen, 3 Art Tokens for decorating the Pyramid (red), 8 Food Tokens to prevent Worker starvation(green) and either 8 or 10 Worker blocks, depending on whether your game is 2 or 4 player. There are also Sled Tiles (large yellow) and 50pt. Victory Markers (yellow/green/brown). Each of these are very important during game play, so I recommend getting a Ziploc to keep them in.

Lastly, there are the worker pieces and the plastic pyramid itself.  The small wooden blocks represent your Workers, and are color coded for up to 4 players, and coincide with the reversible Player Aid screens. There are 16 of each color, for a total of 64 Workers. However, there is also what is possibly the coolest part of this game: The Great Pyramid! Once your Workers have slid all the Pyramid pieces of 1 Tier into place, you use your Art Tokens to decorate that Tier. While everyone who bids Art Tokens toward the Pyramid win Victory Points, the player who bids the most will get more VPs. Once the Great Pyramid is completed, players will add up all VPs, and of course, the player with the most wins the game!

And there you have it, another awesome resource game from Mayfair. While this game is a bit more complicated than either Settlers of Catan or Steam, I like the fact that they are creating more challenges for their loyal players. Sean, Dave and I will be at Toyfair 2012 in NYC this Sunday and Monday, and I can hardly wait to see what new boardgames Mayfair has cooked up. Be sure to look for our Toyfair update on Tuesday when we return!

Stasi "Dengirl" King