Arrrr mateys! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day today! To be celebrating such a fine day, I have some of thee worst pirate jokes yea have ever heard. So if yea be a land-lobber then read on and be prepared to shiver yea timbers.
Q: Where does a pirate go on vacation?
A: Arrrr-kansas
Q: How much did the pirate pay for corn?
A: a buck an ear (buccaneer)
Q: Why couldn't the pirate go to the movie?
A: It was rated Arrr
Q: Why was it rated R?
A: It showed to much booty.
A guy walks into a bar and sees a pirate sitting at the bar with a peg leg, hook, and an eye patch. The guy thinks, this pirate would be cool to talk to. So he walks up and sits at the bar.
Guy: So are you a real pirate?
Pirate: Arrr, I be.
Guy: How did you get a peg leg?
Pirate: I was working the mast in a heavy storm and the rigging wrapped around me leg and ripped it off.
Guy: WOW! So how did you get the hook?
Pirate: I was swimming through the wreckage of me ship and a shark bite me hand clean off.
Guy: AMAZING! So how did you end up with the eye patch?
Pirate: A bird flew over head and crapped in me eye.
Guy: Really... after the other stories...
Pirate: Well it was the first day with me new hook!
Q: Why didn't the pirate take a shower before walking the plank?
A: He knew he'd wash-up on shore later.
Q: What does a pirate say when he is playing Santa?
A: Ho, Ho, Ho, and a bottle of Rum!
Q: Why did it take the pirate so long to learn the alphabet?
A: He spent years at C!
Q: Where did the one legged pirate go for breakfast?
A: IHop
Q: Why are pirates called pirates?
A: They just Arrrr
So if thar be any of yea scurvy dogs out there liken a good or bad joke, have at thee!
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Summoner Wars Master Set Review
This past Gen Con had a plethora of awesome games, both for purchase and demos! One game that our store actually had the opportunity to purchase early was the Summoner Wars Master Set by Plaid Hat Games. Not only were the demo runners helpful and pleasant, but the owner allowed us to buy 4 new copies for our store 2 weeks before release. Kudos to all of them for helping out hobby stores! The Master Set received an incredible amount of attention by both new and experienced Summoner Wars players, so I thought it might be time to write a review.
First, let me tell you a little about the previous editions of Summoner Wars. Prior to the Master Set being released, there were 2 Starter Sets available, which were great for 2-player battles. They also had Faction Decks and Reinforcement Packs, some of which are pictured below.
OPENING THE BOX
When we first open the box, we see the 21-page rulebook, the 2 sides of the board, a bag of 5 dice, punchable tokens, and 6 separate decks. All of these are individually shrink-wrapped, sorted according to Faction, and are ready to play right out of the box. Notice the extra empty slots for more decks, both of your creation and future expansions of Plaid Hat Games. Now that's what I call planning for your company!
PLAYING THE GAME
First, each player must choose a deck, whether pre-made or customized. The two sides of the board should be lined up like so...
TURN SEQUENCE
As board and card games go, Summoner Wars has a few more steps than average. They are;
1. Draw
2. Summon
3. Play Event Cards
4. Movement
5. Attack
6. Build Magic
After all steps are completed, it's your opponents turn. Can't remember all of it? Don't worry, everything you need to know is in the easy-to-understand rulebook, including game terminology, victory conditions, lists of expansions, how to set-up the game for 3-4 players, and helpful tips on creating a more customized deck.
All in all, the Summoner Wars Master Set is the perfect starting place for gaming newcomers or enthusiasts. It has many decks already available, a very clearly written rulebook, easy to use cards and simple rules. On a gamer learning scale (1=extremely new to gaming, 10=gaming professional), I would mark Summoner Wars as a 3.
But that's just my opinion...why not pick it up and play for yourself? We have a copy ready to go in our Dragon's Den Library, so if you're in the area stop by for a quick game or demo!
Stasi "Dengirl" King
Friday, September 16, 2011
Innistrad Magic Events at the Dragon's Den
Innistrad
As we are getting closer to the release of Innistrad for Magic the Gathering, we wanted to post some quick information about the events we will be running over the next few weeks. We have events at the Dragon's Den for the pre-release, the launch, and a games day all set and ready to go. So read on and learn about all the different Innistrad events that are coming up!
Pre-release:
We have 4 different Sealed events that are coming up for Innistrad. All the sealed events are $30.00 and include 6 packs, plus the promo card (while supplies last). Prizes will be determined by the number of players that sign up for the events.
Sealed #1
Midnight 9/24/2011
Special at the midnight only: FREE pizza and soda!
Sealed #2
Noon 9/24/2011
Sealed #3
Noon 9/25/2011
Sealed #4
5:00pm 9/25/2011
Launch Party:
The official Launch Party for the release of Innistrad will be held Friday night on 9/30/2011. We will be running a draft at 6:00pm as the official event! The cost of the event is $15.00 and will include 3 packs and a promo card (while supplies last). Prizes will be determined by the number of players that sign up for the events.
Game Day:
Game day is a constructed event so it is open for players to try and build the best deck. The event will be run on Saturday 10/29/2011 starting at noon. Everyone who players will get a promo card and the top 8 will get a special promo card. The cost of this event will be $5.00 and prizes will be determined by the number of players who sign up.
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
Thursday, September 15, 2011
New 52 - Week 2
The New 52 continues with the 2nd wave of new titles. After reading the first two weeks worth of titles, there's one word to describe The New 52: Dark.
Not that there's anything wrong with books that are dark in tone or material, but I'm hoping we see a bit more sunlight and hope peek through the books as the month continues. Too much of anything can be.. well, too much.
That said, there's some gems this week. Let's get to it.
Deathstroke #1 - Good introductory issue. An all-in-one plot for the character, plus a hook at the end. A bit of a surprise there, with his comment about not liking competition; it made me laugh. The one thought I had (and this has gone through my head a couple times in the last couple weeks) is that Deathstroke's outfit was a little too much 90's Image Excess. Sometimes simpler is better? (See Batwoman's costume). That said, solid first issue.
Grifter #1 - Oh, DC. Why must you take my previous Wildstorm characters, pour gasoline on them, and then make me watch as they slowly burn away, never to be remembered by those of us who loved them ? TELL ME WHY, YOU SADISTS.
Okay, got that out of my system.
Grifter was described as Sawyer from Lost meets the DCU. That pretty much hits it on the head. Grifter is a con man, but things go very bad, very fast. This was a good first issue.
Mister Terrific #1 - I was very happy to see the fan-favorite from JSA get his own book. It was a good story, but it felt a little write-by-numbers, y'know? It lacked oomph. This one might take a couple issues to come together.
Green Lantern #1 - Anyone who was reading GL before this month should be able to pick this up and jump right in. For new(er) readers, it might be a little tricky, trying to figure out why Sinestro is Green Lantern instead of Hal, who the guys in the yellow uniforms are, and what's going on. Also, isn't Carol still in-charge of the you-know-who's? BRING BACK COWGIRL, GEOFF JOHNS.
Sometimes I wish Geoff Johns would write just one book a month, instead of 2-4. Ever since he became head honcho/VP at DC, his writing hasn't been the same.
Batman and Robin #1 - Oh Damian, you lovable jerk. Why can't you and Daddy Wayne just get along?
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E #1 - Like Animal Man and Swamp Thing from last week, this one floored me. Great, strange issue. Franky's father is in the body of an 8 year old girl? I couldn't possibly pin this one down with one word, but I'll try: Must-buy.
(Yeah I cheated there. Whaddya want from me?)
Demon Knights #1 - I was both amused and disgusted by the "rough" comment. If you've already read it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll understand. I have to confess, my expectations were low for this book, but they surpassed them. This was a "pieces and players coming together for the first time" -type first issue, and it was fun. Good read. Anyone who read Stormwatch last week already knows this ties into the history of the New DCU.
Resurrection Man #1 - With all my love for Abnett and Lanning, you'd have thought I read the original Resurrection Man series, right? Wrong. The writing on this was strong, and it felt like a "long read". Great value for $2.99. The art, though, was a little off. Sometimes the characters looked disjointed? Body parts not quite lining up right? It added a little atmosphere to the book, but it also took me out of the story sometimes, too.
Superboy #1 - Hey now, this was good. They've jettisoned all the previous Superboy stories (and Teen Titans, I'd imagine), and stated fresh. Solid first issue, one of the best from this week.
Legion Lost #1 - ... and now, one of the weakest. Yikes, this was messy. Too much talking about superpowers, and the costumes are so complicated I STILL don't know who's who. Or why I should care. Granted, it's easy to be intimidated by all the LSH characters, there's only a million of them. But "time-traveling super-heroes from the future, stuck in the present"? That's a pretty nifty concept, but all the language about the "Flashpoint wall/event/whatever" lost me. Hopefully next month is better, 'cause I'm going to hear about this review from loyal reserivst Gatti, that's for sure.
Red Lanterns #1 - And now, a big ol pile of Rage. As many of you already know, I'm a huge fan of the Red Lanterns (my rage issues are legendary, ask the employees at the Den), so I've been waiting MONTHS, nay YEARS for Atrocitus and the Almighty HATE KITTEH to get their own book. This was another strong introductory issue, and Ed Benes did a good job on the art.
Suicide Squad #1 - Like you could make this title anything BUT dark, right? Lots of blood and mayhem, but I have to confess, it was missing something. In the original Suicide Squad by Ostrander and it's spiritual successor, Secret Six by Gail Simone, the books were dark, but balanced with a little light comedy here and there. Halfway through this book, I thought to myself "Why isn't Gail writing this?" The voices in my head had no answer. The only other criticism is my own blinders: Anytime I see Harley in a comic, I automatically pipe in her voice and mannerisms from The Animated Series. This book didn't jive with the show. That's more me, than anything else, I think.
Batwoman #1 - This was awesome. The. End.
-Scott.
Not that there's anything wrong with books that are dark in tone or material, but I'm hoping we see a bit more sunlight and hope peek through the books as the month continues. Too much of anything can be.. well, too much.
That said, there's some gems this week. Let's get to it.
Deathstroke #1 - Good introductory issue. An all-in-one plot for the character, plus a hook at the end. A bit of a surprise there, with his comment about not liking competition; it made me laugh. The one thought I had (and this has gone through my head a couple times in the last couple weeks) is that Deathstroke's outfit was a little too much 90's Image Excess. Sometimes simpler is better? (See Batwoman's costume). That said, solid first issue.
Grifter #1 - Oh, DC. Why must you take my previous Wildstorm characters, pour gasoline on them, and then make me watch as they slowly burn away, never to be remembered by those of us who loved them ? TELL ME WHY, YOU SADISTS.
Okay, got that out of my system.
Grifter was described as Sawyer from Lost meets the DCU. That pretty much hits it on the head. Grifter is a con man, but things go very bad, very fast. This was a good first issue.
Mister Terrific #1 - I was very happy to see the fan-favorite from JSA get his own book. It was a good story, but it felt a little write-by-numbers, y'know? It lacked oomph. This one might take a couple issues to come together.
Green Lantern #1 - Anyone who was reading GL before this month should be able to pick this up and jump right in. For new(er) readers, it might be a little tricky, trying to figure out why Sinestro is Green Lantern instead of Hal, who the guys in the yellow uniforms are, and what's going on. Also, isn't Carol still in-charge of the you-know-who's? BRING BACK COWGIRL, GEOFF JOHNS.
Sometimes I wish Geoff Johns would write just one book a month, instead of 2-4. Ever since he became head honcho/VP at DC, his writing hasn't been the same.
Batman and Robin #1 - Oh Damian, you lovable jerk. Why can't you and Daddy Wayne just get along?
Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E #1 - Like Animal Man and Swamp Thing from last week, this one floored me. Great, strange issue. Franky's father is in the body of an 8 year old girl? I couldn't possibly pin this one down with one word, but I'll try: Must-buy.
(Yeah I cheated there. Whaddya want from me?)
Demon Knights #1 - I was both amused and disgusted by the "rough" comment. If you've already read it, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you'll understand. I have to confess, my expectations were low for this book, but they surpassed them. This was a "pieces and players coming together for the first time" -type first issue, and it was fun. Good read. Anyone who read Stormwatch last week already knows this ties into the history of the New DCU.
Resurrection Man #1 - With all my love for Abnett and Lanning, you'd have thought I read the original Resurrection Man series, right? Wrong. The writing on this was strong, and it felt like a "long read". Great value for $2.99. The art, though, was a little off. Sometimes the characters looked disjointed? Body parts not quite lining up right? It added a little atmosphere to the book, but it also took me out of the story sometimes, too.
Superboy #1 - Hey now, this was good. They've jettisoned all the previous Superboy stories (and Teen Titans, I'd imagine), and stated fresh. Solid first issue, one of the best from this week.
Legion Lost #1 - ... and now, one of the weakest. Yikes, this was messy. Too much talking about superpowers, and the costumes are so complicated I STILL don't know who's who. Or why I should care. Granted, it's easy to be intimidated by all the LSH characters, there's only a million of them. But "time-traveling super-heroes from the future, stuck in the present"? That's a pretty nifty concept, but all the language about the "Flashpoint wall/event/whatever" lost me. Hopefully next month is better, 'cause I'm going to hear about this review from loyal reserivst Gatti, that's for sure.
Red Lanterns #1 - And now, a big ol pile of Rage. As many of you already know, I'm a huge fan of the Red Lanterns (my rage issues are legendary, ask the employees at the Den), so I've been waiting MONTHS, nay YEARS for Atrocitus and the Almighty HATE KITTEH to get their own book. This was another strong introductory issue, and Ed Benes did a good job on the art.
Suicide Squad #1 - Like you could make this title anything BUT dark, right? Lots of blood and mayhem, but I have to confess, it was missing something. In the original Suicide Squad by Ostrander and it's spiritual successor, Secret Six by Gail Simone, the books were dark, but balanced with a little light comedy here and there. Halfway through this book, I thought to myself "Why isn't Gail writing this?" The voices in my head had no answer. The only other criticism is my own blinders: Anytime I see Harley in a comic, I automatically pipe in her voice and mannerisms from The Animated Series. This book didn't jive with the show. That's more me, than anything else, I think.
Batwoman #1 - This was awesome. The. End.
-Scott.
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