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!

-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

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

Battletech Introductory Box Set

Did you ever play Battletech when you were growing up?  Do you remember FASA? Have you ever desired piloting a giant 'Mech into combat for the glory of your House or Clan? Then you need to check out the Battletech Introductory Box Set!  This new introductory box set is now being produced by Catalyst Game Lab, who also makes some other great games! We at the Dragon's Den felt that it was time to break this open and play a round or two.

We got the box set out for the store, now that it is available at one of our distributors.  As several of us remembered the game from our youth, we were excited to give the new intro box a try.  We went very basic with a light mech each... well, they had 50 tonnage mechs and I had a 40.  We went with the very basic/core rules and did not worry about heat or ammo.  Steve, Tom and I had a blast and after immobilizing me they turned on each other, with Tom winning the event!

The pieces are all made out of plastic, and are single cast... except for the 2 premium pieces Thor and Loki.  The board is more like a board game board, but is printed on both sides to give you 2 double sided maps for more play options.

While we were playing, Stan got into painting the pieces and gave each one a quick prime coat of either Red, Grey, or Silver.  The pieces we were using ended up blue as did the Thor.  The Loki got a separate color and we went with green.  We may have gone with some Marvel Comic colors with that...Thor blue and Loki green!

So as we have several copies in the store, with the pieces all base coated, then you should come in and give this great game a try.  We now have several copies of the game as of when this blog was posted.

 



Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Nintendo LaserScope

Have you ever wanted to play Duck Hunt on the NES and not have to use the gun?  How about firing at those ducks by saying "Bang," "Shoot," "Die Duck, Die," or "Kablow!"?  Then you need to give this a try!

The Nintendo LaserScope by Konami is a voice activate firing system.  It was designed to work with the different shooting games that Nintendo produced to work with the Zapper.  It made it's debut in 1990, so it is now 22 years old, and looks great still. If you noticed, the headset also has speakers built in, and YES it is in stereo. 

Now there were some down sides to really cool device.  The mic would sometimes pick up background noise and fire with what ever it heard.  It also has a limited range as you need to plug the headset into the Nintendo in the controller port, and on the side for the sound.

Oh, and in case you are wondering... YES we have one in the store as of when we posted this blog entry!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

MtG Dark Ascension Pre-release Weekend

This weekend was the Pre-release of the latest set of Magic the Gathering from Wizards of the Coast called Dark Ascension.  We had so many players for the last Pre-release that we set ourselves up for the players and even got the empty store next to us for our Saturday events.  We had 4 events on Saturday starting at Midnight.  We always get a good crowd for the Midnight events and having an empty location to use made it feel open and spacious for the players.  Here is a list of our times on Saturday and Sunday with how many players we had for each.

As is our normal Midnight fun, we got pizzas and sodas for all the players to enjoy before the event began.  We ended up about 16 pizzas and not a single slice was left when it was game time! The drinks normally last a little longer, but even they were gone before the end of the event. 

 

Saturday
1. Midnight: 88 players
2. 11:00am: 32 players
3. 3:00pm: 15 players
4. 5:00pm: 16 players
Saturday total: 151 Players

Sunday
1. 11:00am: 8 players
2. 3:00pm: 15 players
Sunday Total: 26

Total players for the weekend: 177

This was a great weekend with lots of players having a great time and playing tons of Magic.  We did a few extra things this pre-release that we have not done in the past.  We had our resident Magic card painter, Marc, altering cards for players as they played.  He also did a few for us to use as random door prizes for each round of the Midnight.  He also did a full art of Sorin for a player... and it might have been the first to be altered.  We also rented several table and chairs so we would have extra and everyone would have more room to play.

Next pre-release I'm hoping to see if one of the local Magic artists would be willing to come in during one of the time slots and do some signings or custom alters for players.  I know that there is one guy very local and several closer to the city, so it would be great for the players to meet some these great artists.

Don't forget about the Launch Party for Dark Ascension this Friday night at 6:00pm.  It will be a Draft for $15 and the first players on the list will be guaranteed a promo card.  What to check out the rest of our calendar of events?  Check out our calendar! We run many Friday Night Magic events, Monday Night Magic, and now Star City IQs!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Grand Prix Trial Baltimore 1/21/12

Today we ran our Grand Prix Trial (GPT) for Baltimore.  We ended up with a pretty good turnout even with the snow falling all morning and keeping many players at home.  So we got 10 players, which ends up being 4 rounds with a cut to 4.  Here is the standings going into the Top 4:

1. Paul Lake
2. Casey Madrick
3. Doug Kimball
4. Jonah Acosta
5. David Haass
6. Carl Naumann
7. Alex Sherman
8. Nick Langella
9. Dave Oppenheimer
10. Evan Odden

In an effort to help more players with deck construction and play, I've decided to publish the top 4 deck lists here on our Blog.  I've listed them:

Doug Kimball
5x Swamp
7x Forest
1x Mountain
2x Kesig Wolf Run
4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Rootbound Crag
1x Glissa the Traitor
1x Olivia Voldaren
4x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Acidic Slime
4x Primeval Titan
4x Grave Titan
2x Geth's Verdict
3x Doom Blade
2x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Ratchet Bomb
4x Sphere of the Suns
4x Rampant Growth
Sideboard:
1x Go For The Throat
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Garruk, Primal Hunter
3x Curse of Death's Hold
2x Batterskull
3x Nihil Speelbomb
1x Black Sun's Zenith

Casey Madrick
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
2x Merfolk Looter
2x Runechanters Pike
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
3x Vapor Snag
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Gut Shot
2x Midnight Haunting
1x Plains
9x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard
3x Dissipate
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Flashfreeze
1x Vapor Snag
2x Mental Misstep
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Celestial Purge
1x Negate
1x Dismember

Jonah Acosta
UW Delver
4x Glacial Fortress
9x Island
3x Moorland Haunt
1x Plains
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Gut Shot
4x Mana Leak
1x Oblivion Ring
4x Ponder
2x Runechanters Pike
2x Sword of War and Peace
4x Vapor Snag
Sideboard
2x Dismember
3x Dissipate
2x Divine Offering
1x Mental Misstep
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Phantasmal Image
3x Timely Reinforcements

Paul Lake
U/W Delver
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
3x Giest of Saint Traft
3x Invisible Stalker
2x Merfolk Looter
2x Runechanters Pike
2x Sword of War and Peace
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
3x Vapor Snag
3x Gitaxian Probe
3x Gut Shot
2x Midnight Haunting
9x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard
2x Divine Offering
2x Dissipate
1x Negate
1x Phantasmal Image
2x Oblivion Ring
1x Vapor Snag
1x Mental Misstep
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Ratchet Bomb
1x Celestial Purge
1x Marrow Shards

Heading into the first Round of Top 4, we saw Paul Lake vs Jonah Acosta and Casey Madrick vs Doug Kimball.  They all played well, and with no time limit still finished in about 50 minutes.  Paul Lake and Casey Madrick moved on to final 2 players after winning the first round.  Paul Lake and Casey Madrick then sat down to play the final round of the GPT Baltimore, the winning of this event would then recieve a 3 round bye at the Grand Prix in Baltimore.

In the last round, Paul Lake emerged victorious and won the 3 round bye for Baltimore!  We are excited to see Paul head down to Baltimore and we are hoping he does well! 

There is another GPT for Baltimore tomorrow at our sister store in Fair Lawn NJ, The Gamer's Gambit.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Dark Ascension Promo Cards

In case you missed it, here are all the promo cards coming out for Dark Ascension!  We still have some space for the Buy a Box promo, but I would hurry in to make sure you get one! 

Dark Ascension Prerelease

The Dark Ascension Prerelease is January 28-29, which seems so far away now. But it's only three weeks! Less than that, in fact. And here's what's available for playing in one. While supplies last.

Dark Ascension Launch Party

A week after the prerelease, Dark Ascension goes on sale for real on February 3. And that kicks off the Launch Party, where this foil card lives:

Just like the prerelease card, you'll get it just for participating (while supplies last).

Dark Ascension Game Day

Dark Ascension Game Day is February 25-26, and while supplies last, you'll get this for participating:

And if you make the Top 8, you'll get this!

Dark Ascension Buy-a-Box Card

Finally, here's the "Buy-a-Box" card! It goes to the first twenty people to buy a Booster Box of Dark Ascension at participating locations. We'll post the locations later, but here's the card now!

Here is the link to the Wizards article with this information.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Risk Legacy Game 3

So we played out game number 3 for Risk Legacy recently, and it was very interesting.  We had several people who have now played in all 3 games now, and a new winner this week.  Here is a list of who played game 3:

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Stasi "Dengirl" King
Dave Steltenkamp
Amanda Cowen
Alex Sherman

Well no one was elliminated this game, but we did get a new winner, Alex! He made some crazy alliance with Amanda and then turned on her to win the game.  So for winning Alex chose to name the continent of "North America"... and went with Amurka.  As we had everyone else hold on, we got to claim victory items as well.  Amanda named a minor city: Mootown, Dave claimed a minor city: Byzanta, Stasi claimed a minor city King's Kourt, and I founded a minor city St. Banksville. 

The map now has 7 minor cities, 1 major city, 3 mercenary scars, 3 ammo shortage scars, and 2 bunkers.  We have also named 2 continents, so the game is progressing very nicely and it is turning into a world for the Drgaon's Den!

If you want to read some more about the game, below is a review and a quick bit about the games we have played so far.  We will be continuing the game until we name the board, so we have 12 more games to go.  Stop in and maybe be a part of the history of this world.

Game Review
Game 1
Game 2

After the next game we will take some pictures of the board and post them as well, but if you want we have the game out for everyone to see.  Hope that everyone who is interested in Risk Legacy has some fun reading these posts and if you want get a copy, stop in and pick one up! 

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Plans for Yu-Gi-Oh at the Den for 2012

Well 2011 is almost over and it has been a fantastic year! I have been so pleased with the number of players and the level of play I've seen develop at the Dragon's Den over the past year. We have seen many of our players head off to big events and do very well. Well now it is time to try and step it up, and offer some new incentives to our players.

Hang on to your hats as this might be a long post from me, but I think you will like what you read! Read on and help us get excited for Yu-Gi-Oh in the new year here at the Dragon's Den!

Player of the Year at the Dragon's Den

We are going to start a program to name a player of the year here at the Dragon's Den. We will be keeping track of points earned during matches played in the store.   We will be taking the top 8 players of each event per week and adding them into the list. We will be using the points that you earn during the game: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a lose. The total from the event will be added to the total from previous events.

We will begin this on January 1st, so the Tuesday Night Yu-Gi-Oh event on January 3rd will be the first chance to earn points. We will be ending the points on December 16th and we will award the Player of the Year at the Dragon's Den after Yu-Gi-Oh on Sunday 23rd. If players are curious as to how they stand in the running, then you might want to read about the Leader Board next.

Leader Board

Every week we'll be posting a Leader Board in the store for the Player of the Year. This board will contain as many players as we can fit on the form, but I'm hoping for at least 20 names. It will list the ranking, name, number of points earned, and number of events played in. We will attempt to update and post the Leader Board weekly on Wednesday or Thursday.

Events, Events, Events

On top of all the regular events that we run, which includes Tuesday night events and Sunday events, we are in the process of getting some Regional events to be run at the store.  We are also thinking of running some other interesting events, but that will be announced later.

I'm very hopeful that adding in these cool add-ons will help bring in players and keep all other players excited to play weekly. Ohhhhhh.... I did not mention what you will get if you are the player of the year. That was intentional, you will have to play, come in, follow us, or read the blog for more information!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Plans for Magic at the Dragon's Den for 2012

Well 2011 is almost over and it has been a fantastic year!  I have been so pleased with the number of players and the level of play I've seen develop at the Dragon's Den over the past year.  We have seen many of our players head off to big events and do very well.  Well now it is time to try and step it up, and offer some new incentives to our players. 

Hang on to your hats as this might be a long post from me, but I think you will like what you read! Read on and help us get excited for Magic in the new year here at the Dragon's Den!

Player of the Year at the Dragon's Den

We are going to start a program to name several players of the year here at the Dragon's Den.  We will be keeping track of points earned during matches played in the store.   The points will be broken down by Competitive Standard, FREE Standard, Legacy, and Limited.  We will be taking the top 8 players of each event per week and adding them into the list.  We will be using the points that you earn during the game: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a lose.  The total from the event will be added to the total from previous events. 

We will begin this on January 1st, so the Monday Night Magic event on January 2nd will be the first chance to earn points.  We will be ending the points on December 14th and we will award the Players of the Year at the Dragon's Den after Magic on Friday 21st.  If players are curious as to how they stand in the running, then you might want to read about the Leader Board next. 

Leader Board

Every week will be posting a Leader Board in the store for the 4 different Player of the Year categories.  These boards will contain as many players as we can fit on the form, but I'm hoping for at least 20 names.  It will list the ranking, name, number of points earned, and number of events played in.  We will attempt to update and post the Leader Board weekly on Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Events, Events, Events

We are planning so many great events for the year.  We will have GPTs as they become available.  We will also be run PTQs as soon as Wizards approves a location between NYC and Albany.  We are running the maximum number of Prerelease and Launch Party events for every new release.  We have now begun looking at running Star City Games invitational events as well.  We will continue to run FNM events, Drafts, Sealeds, Standard, and so much more.

We are also planning a special deal.  If you play in the 3:00pm FNM Standard event and win, you will get a FREE entry into the Competitive $5.00 FNM Standard at 6:00pm.  This is a special weekly deal to help get more players playing Competitive!

I'm very hopeful that adding in these cool add-ons will help bring in players and keep all other players excited to play weekly.  Ohhhhhh.... I did not mention what you will get if you are the player of the year.  That was intentional, you will have to play, come in, follow us, or read the blog for more information!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Risk Legacy Game 2

Well this weekend we ran game number 2 for Risk Legacy and it was amazing.  We had a few return players and a few new players so it changed the dynamics of the game some.  The bigger change was the addition of a Major city and 2 minor cities to the map. 

Here is who played this second game:

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Stan Tyler
Dave Steltenkamp
Matt Popow
Kenny

I ended up going first, which was interesting as I won last game and got a Missile token instead of a Star.  This puts the first play who wins a game at a slight disadvantage for victory conditions, but it does give you a chance to modify a die roll to a "6." 

Well to save space and not write about every little detail, I won again!  As I started in "Africa" again, I decided to give it a name.  "Africa" is now to be called Maximus in our game!  Dave and Stan both held on. Dave chose to name another minor city and Stan added a resource sticker to Peru, making it a 3 resource!  The other 2 players were eliminated which allowed us to open another pack of hidden cards.  The two players who were eliminated got to add a new "Comeback" power to their faction.  So when we play again 2 factions have 2 powers on them!  We did get to open another pack of cards as I have now won and signed the board twice.  This new pack gives us Mission and Event cards!

Well I don't want to spoil to much information.  If you want to see more information you can check out our Box Opening and our Game 1 blog! Also stop in and see the board.  If you are looking for a copy of the game, stop in also.  We have multiple copies and would be happy to sell them for the holidays.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks  

Risk Legacy Game Number 1

So last night be sat down and played our first game of Risk Legacy.  It was really different and fantastic at the same time.  So we had 5 players and we began the game with only one person who had played this version before... and only once at that.  Let me break down some of the points so that you might get an idea of some of the differences in this version then to regular Risk.  As Stasi  wrote a product review and had some great pictures, I'm going to write this more from the play side... but add in some pictures too!

First we took a look at the factions, picked the one and wrote our names on the back.  The factions give the play a specific bonus (or a choice of two possible ones at the beginning) that can affect the game.  We were also each given a single Star Token, and a Scar card that can be used once to alter the board... PERMANENTLY! So I ended up with Khan Industry and the Scar card "Bunker."  Matter of fact, I was the only one who played a Scar card in this first game.

Play started out with a bunch of territory expansion, and only a little combat.  But by the fourth round several HQs had changed hands, and mine was under attack, which prompted the bunker Scar card!  I was able to pull off a quick surge and capture a second HQ and purchase a Star giving me 4 Stars at the end of the turn, which oddly enough was the end of the round as well.  As I was the first to gain the 4 necessary Stars, I ended the game.  Now, when we start next, I get a Missile Token rather than a starting Star!

The coolest part of the game is what happens at the end.  Not only do you have some permanent changes to the board with Scar cards, BUT you also get to change the board at the end of the game.  The winner gets several choices; name a continent, name a major city are two.  I chose to name a major city.  If you held on and were not eliminated (which was everyone else) you have other options. For example, you can add a resource to a card for a province you control or name a minor city.  We had 2 players  name minor cities and 2 add a resource to a card.  All of these change how the game will be played next time.

I'm so excited to play again!  I'm hoping to play with the same group and see if we can give some of the new players a little more time to grasp the tactics.  Here is who we had play the first game:

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Alex Sherman
Dave Steltenkamp
Amanda Cowen
Stasi "Dengirl" King

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

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

New Paltz Gaming Convention "NPC" 2011

This past weekend was the New Paltz Gaming Convention known as NPC! For the third year in a row we have had a table and have worked with the students that organize and run the event.  We have done more then just have a table though, we have also helped run a few events.  This year we ran a Magic Casual (10 players) event, an Innistrad Draft (14 players), and a Yu-Gi-Oh constructed (10 players) event.  After talking to the students that run the Convention, the attendance was up about 25% over last year and was the largest number of individuals to attend. 

They had many cool events including some fantastic video game tournaments, mock combat with "bofer" weapons, anime viewings, and so much more!

And here are some of the players for the Magic event we ran at NPC.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Black Friday at the Dragon's Den

We at the Dragon's Den want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving in advance and to let everyone know about the incredible Black Friday sales we will have on Friday November 25th.  We will be opening at 8:00am so that you can  come in and get some great deals while you are running to all the other stores.  What??? You don't know about our sales yet??? Then read on and hopefully you will find something great to stop in and pick up.

Valid 8 am to 12 pm

 All Hot Wheels 4 for $1

Energy Drinks & PEZ Buy 1, Get 1 FREE

All Action Figures Marked “Special” -3 for $10

Video Game Accessories-50% Off (Excludes New PS3/Wii/360)     

All Cartridge Games Buy1, Get 1 FREE

All Disc Games Buy 2, Get 1 FREE

Heroclix-Buy 1 Brick, Get a Starter FREE!

40% Off Any Miniatures Basic Rulebook or Starter Set

Board Games Marked “Special” 75% Off

Buy a Core Board Game, Get Expansion 50% Off

All RPG Books Buy 2, Get 1 FREE

All Manga-75% Off

Star Wars Action Figures 3 for $10

All Star Wars Boxed Sets 50% Off

All MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh! Singles-Buy 1, Get 1 FREE

Sports Card Singles Buy 2, Get 1 FREE

Any L5R Card Game Products-75% Off

         MTG 2012 2-Player Starter Set-50% Off 

          MTG New Phyrexia Starter Decks-50% Off

Yu-gi-oh! XYZ/Generation Force SE/Hidden Arsenal SE-50% Off

           

        All Day Sales

 All Action Figures Buy 1, Get 1 FREE

All Graphic Novels Buy 1, Get 1 FREE

All Statues 35% Off

All DC New 52 2^nd, 3^rd, or 4^th Printings-$1 Each

Additional sales may be announced all day long, so follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more details.

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks