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

Risk Legacy Review

Risk. A war-waging strategy board game that many have played, but few have conquered. Available in variant formats such as Godstorm, 2210 AD, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and even Transformers, each new generation of war gamer has a reason to play it.
The common idea, of course,  being to defeat your opponent and put away the game until next time you want to re-demolish the world. But have you ever wondered what it would be like if your bombs actually changed the landscape? If the economy ever failed beyond repair? Or if the radioactivity ever drastically changed the population of that country?

Wonder no longer, fellow-Risk players, for Risk Legacy has finally released!

Upon first opening the box, we see that there are 4 sealed decks of cards taped to the interior lid, along with a shrink-wrapped game board. These particular decks aren't to be opened until the game's prerequisites are fulfilled. This can range from when all 9 minor cities are founded to when the world capital is built. 

But wait, what's that paper glued to the board say?

Wow! Hasbro certainly went all out with this one.  It's almost as though they want the players to know they may have to take responsibility for their actions later on...

 Underneath the board we find the rules manual, a sheet of sticker decals, Red Star Tokens, Orange Missile Tokens, the Sideboard, and the double-sided Faction Cards.

 Under all those is are the plastic pieces that will be used to represent the various troops. As in other Risks, there are 1-Troop, 3-Troop and HQ pieces, all colored for the faction they are part of.  The dice are also similar to other Risk titles, as the 3 Black Dice are used for attacking and the 2 Red Dice are used for defense rolls.  The cards consists of Resources, Territories, Coins, Powers and Scars (which permanently alter aspects of various Territories).


Before reading on, this is a MAJOR SPOILER! Read on only if you want to learn more!


The following pictures show which card types are in each of the 4 sealed decks, in order of how you should open them.

Of course, the board itself is fairly standard, and should be easily recognizable to Risk players everywhere. It is divided into 42 Territories, which are grouped into 6 standard Continents. The 15 lines on the left are for the winners names.

Lastly, there are now Mutants and Aliens that players must contend (or collaborate!) with.

 

Won't spoil anything else for now, but I'll certainly reccommend getting a copy of this new board game from our friends at Hasbro. At only $59.99, it's a great holiday present for the Risk/War gamer in your life, or a fantastic way to spend a snowed-in day. Come by and pick one up, or simply ask to see our opened store copy!

Stasi "Dengirl" King

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 

Looking Ahead: January & February

Previews came out last week, chock-full of new comic-y goodness that will be arriving in 2012. I popped open the large tome and found some cool reprints, new comics, and dollar books that I think a lot of you will dig. I've add Comixology links for our loyal Reservists, too.

Enjoy.

"But my feeling is what Gotham really does is challenge you in these ways that shake you to the core." - Scott Snyder, from an interview at CBR.

* If you've been enjoying the new Batman series by Scott Snyder or All-Star Western featuring Jonah Hex in late 19th century Gotham, then BATMAN GATES OF GOTHAM is a must-have.

Gates of Gotham sets the stage for the history of Gotham and the Five Families. It details some of the back-story and relationships between the Waynes, the Cobblepots and the rest of the Gotham families. This trade paperback collects the entire mini-series at a reasonable price and is a GREAT Batman story. Highly recommended.

Kudos to DC for releasing it first as a trade paperback instead of a hardcover.

Comixology link and more information can be found here.

* WASTELAND is a post-apocalyptic series that teases a dark future with lots of question. While the book itself has been solid, it's struggled with coming out on time over the last 18 months. The creative team and publisher recently put out a press release that addressed the issues with candor, and announced that issue #33 is going to be $1. A new jumping-on point for a series tabbed to go 60 issues, #33 might not be the best place to start, but for a dollar, it's a good gamble. Vertigo and Dark Horse fans, this will be a book you might enjoy. I've been reading the series for years, and it's distinctly different than anything else on the market.

It's a dollar! Give it a shot!

Read an interview with the writer, Antony Johnston at CBR.

Comixology link and more information can be found here.

* It feels like Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips has been creating great crime/noir fiction since the dawn of time, so I'm stoked to see that they're doing a new ongoing series entitled FATALE. The difference between this and his other crime work, is that this comic will have a supernatural bent. If you like Criminal, Sin City, The Usual Suspects, 100 Bullets or any crime noir movie/book/tv show EVER, then you're going to enjoy this series. Two of comics' best creators, who've worked with each other for a long time, doing their best work? This is going to be a great book.

A video clip from Brubaker plus several finished pages can be seen here.

Comixology link and more information can be found here.

* Ridiculously long title aside, WOLVERINE AND X-MEN: ALPHA AND OMEGA looks very cool. Quentin Quire and Wolverine square off in this mini-series written by Brian Wood. Brian hasn't done much superhero or work-for-hire books in awhile, but coming off of his DMZ and Northlander runs at Vertigo, he's doing this mini-series and he's working on Conan at Dark Horse next year. I think this will be one of the better mini's to come from Marvel in quite some time. Given that Kid Omega (Quire) played a huge role in Schism, I think this series is going great. Wood has a different sensibility than a lot of the guys at Marvel, and I think it'll show.

Comixology link and more information can be found here.

Don't die Optimus, I.. I... I think I love you.

* IDW relaunches the Transformers books with two new ongoings: TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE and TRANSFORMERS MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Look, this is a series about alien robots who transform into cars and guns. Do I really need to sell this? :)

Comixology link and more information for More Than Meets The Eye and for Robots In Disguise.:

* A couple months ago, a Kickstarter project was started to raise funds for an entirely female-created comic project called WOMANTHOLOGY. The fundraising was a HUGE success, and here is the result: THREE HUNDRED PAGES of female-created comics. The price tag is high - $50 - but proceeds from this book will be going to charity.

This will be a great book to give in time for Valentine's Day. Hint hint, gentlemen.

Comixology link and more information can be found here.

I liked her better with the mohawk.

* SNARK ATTACK: AVENGERS #21

Storm joins the Avengers! What, Maggot and Stacy X weren't available? I mean, haven't most of the X-Men and FF already become Avengers already? Sheesh.

Come on, Marvel. This the best you can do?

I'm not giving you the Comixology link. I'm sorry, I just can't.