Yugioh Photon Shockwave Sneak Peek

This weekend, we had a spectacular turn-out for our YuGiOh Sneak Peek.  The new set that was debuted, Photon Shockwave, will be for sale November 15th. 

Our events were on Saturday, November 5th, and Sunday November 6th.  Both days we had the $20 Sneak Peek at 12pm and a $10 Box Tournament. The winners of the Box Tournaments will be rewarded with various numbers of boosters from the new set when it releases next week.

We had a full house on both Saturday and Sunday, with all 96 of our packages (6 Photon Shockwave boosters + promo card) being sold out before 2pm each day! The Photon Dragon playmats were given out as random door prizes, and the lucky recipients were thrilled!

All in all, we are very pleased with this huge turnout.  Hopefully, our representatives at Konami will allow us to get even more kits for the next Sneak Peek, and we can run even larger tournaments!  If you are interested in participating in our YuGiOh events, we have regular tournaments every Sunday from 1pm-6pm and Tuesday from 5:30pm-9pm. A $5 entry guarantees that every participant gets 1 booster pack, and the top players get extra store credit!

Check out our calendar at gamersgambit.com for more events and information.

Stasi "Dengirl" King

Gamers for the Greater Good

 Gamers for the Greater Good (G4GG)

As the holidays are approaching I know that many of the recent storms have left people in our area wanting for some basic needs.  We at the Dragon's Den have decided to plan a week of events that will help the local food banks in the Poughkeepsie area. Here is what we are hoping to do:

Every event you come in and play during this week we are asking you to bring in several non-perishable food items as a donation.  To help sweeten the deal we are going to ask several vendors to make donates and we will have raffles on the last day of the event.  To be entered in the raffle you will need to bring either 5 canned items or 3 boxed items of food per event you play in.  Even if you do not want to play in any events, you can still make a food donation and be entered in the raffles.

To make the raffle even more potent, we will add a raffle ticket for EACH group of donations you bring in! So yes that means for ever 5 canned items or every 3 boxed items you will get your name entered again!  YES, that means that every event you play in can get you an extra raffle entry. 

We are also planning some extra special events just for the week and we will have some super special offers to tie to those.

The dates for this event will be: December 5 until December 11.

Monday: Magic Modern 6:00pm

Friday: Magic Sealed 2 Headed Giant 6:00pm $20 entry plus the food donation! 5 boosters and build 2 decks. Also, if you bring a new player (one who has never had a DCI number, the top teams with a new player will win a special prize!)

Sunday: Yu-Gi-Oh Structure Deck Challenge:  Legend of the Six Samurai, $8.00 entry plus food donation!

We will update this page often as we plan more events and get more fun and fantastic information.  Stay tuned and we hope that we can help local families and have a lot of fun while doing it!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

New League Starting - Map Campaign

 Do you enjoy Warhammer Fantasy? Do you want to try something new or different? Then stop in and chat with Stan about his next plans for Wednesday nights. 

 

Not able to stop in??? Then check out what he has to say below!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

We will be starting a map campaign for those who still wish to compete.

Choose your army carefully, sharpen your weapons and put forth your overall champion.

We will be working with a couple of experimental rules that I have come up with. I'll be posting them up soon for your review and opinions.

Map campaign rules will be fairly simple, but I will work on getting a full representation that will be on display at the Den.

Now again for the questions... Do we wish for a moving map campaign with armies moving around the board vying for control or a abstract depiction that represents wins/loses?

My thoughts are a 3 army representation, each week you will pick the movements of your armies and as they interact on the map, battles will erupt. Each army can move 1 space per week, conquering the space the land on if unoccupied, fighting the inhabitants if occupied.

We can either fight to the end, with each person having a stronghold that can be taken and thereby destroying that army or we can have a set time limit that will count each space as victory points and tally it at the end of the campaign season.

There will be various key locations that could be worth more points or could give you key advantages while you hold them. Expect these to be hotly contested locations.

Thoughts? Comments? Do you want me to flesh this out or to think of something else? 

 

Stan

NYC Comic Con... The Aftermath

NYC Comic Con

So Comic Con is now over and we have survived... although Zombie Petz are still dead and Iron Age may be Jaded (Ha, just a play on the titles... it has been a long weekend)! We had a chance to talk to MANY people from all over the area and beyond, and I thought we would share some of what we heard at the booth.  I know that our roving staff may have more to talk about the show itself, but I was trapped at the booth and have a lot to share about that experience.


One huge comment that we heard was: "How come you guys aren't at Cross County in Yonkers?" or "Are you the same Dragon's Den that was in Cross County in Yonkers?" Matter of fact, the Owner of a fantastic comedy club in Midtown called Ha, used to shop at the Dragon's Den in Yonkers! Oh and if you get down to Midtown, the Dueling Pianos at the club were fantastic!

Another huge comment that was heard many, many, MANY times was: "Where is the Wizards of the Coast booth?"  Wizards of the Coast, WotC, did not have a booth this year was the answer.  WotC did send a single staff member to run some demo games and give out some promo items.  He stopped by the booth on more then one occasion, but their lack of presence was felt and we heard about it from many people/players. Hey WotC you might want to come next year... you were missed.

I think one of the big things we are thinking about for future cons (gaming, comic, pop culture, or anything else), we will be thinking about the lay out of the booth and product.  We notice that some product moved well, and other product very slowly.  We also noticed that some product areas we were some of the only people really carrying.  There are many things I will keep the same with how the event went, but I have started the mental list on how to make it better next time! If you have ever stood for 9+ hours on a cement floor, you know what I'm talking about!

So I know that Scott is working on a review of Comic Con from his trip on the floor.  He spent multiple days walking the floor, attending panels/seminars, and doing the show... not from the booth perspective.  So stay tuned for more information about Comic Con.  We promise that there will be plenty to read.

Enjoy, and hope to see you at the show next year!


Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Scott goes to NYC

I've been waiting for NYCC since last year; I'd gone for a day and had the time of my life. This year, I was much more prepared: I was staying with a friend in Brooklyn, I had some meetings scheduled, and I was looking forward to enjoying NYC while representing the store.

While the rest of the employees would be going down early Thursday morning, I headed down late Wednesday nightNow, as I've said to some of you, I'm a guy who likes being behind the wheel, but when I get too close to NYC, I turn into Mr. Road Rage. I'm fortunate in that I left so late that the traffic was minimal, the directions were perfect (thank you Google Maps) and I found a parking spot right next to my friend's apartment building. As a precocious evil infant likes to say, "Victory is(was) mine!".

My first challenge on Wedneday night was holding off the peer pressure of my friends to go out and have "one or two" drinks. We all know what one or two drinks turns into, right? I wasn't having any of it, so I stayed in my swanky Williamsburg pad and got some sleep.

--

Thursday morning rolled around, and I had my first adventure on the subway. I had to switch between 2 different subways. Did I mention that I was a complete neophyte when it comes to this whole subway thing? To my surprise it went much better than I thought and I got to the Javitts Center in time for the Diamond Comic Distributors Brunch. Diamond is the main source of all the American-published comics, and the elephant in the room when it comes to distribution. Several times a year, they hold breakfasts like this at NYCC or San Diego or some of their own retreats, and use it as an opportunity to speak with retailers.

I generally have mixed feelings about these kinds of things. They don't always come across as productive, and seem more "ra-ra, look at us" than necessary. There's often a distinct lack of professionalism at these events, but that might be a personal bias of mine; after being a teacher, I often think HOW you act is just as important as the message you're trying to get across.

He said ATROCIOUS, not ATROCITUS. Pay attention, puny human

The brunch was held in a much prettier location than year's sub-basement facility, but the sound and audio in the large glass-filled room was ATROCIOUS. Halfway into the brunch, I turned to a colleague and said "This is the third time I've been to one of these and I hope it's my last." I'll spare you the details, if only because I couldn't hear most of them (and it wasn't for a lack of trying). However, Dark Horse announced next year's Free Comic Book Day offerings would include Star Wars AND Serenity. Best news ever, right there.

So, the brunch was a complete bust.

I spent the afternoon in a couple panels. One was very, very good; a great session on running events, and the other was a general-purpose customer service talk. I was disappointed that a panel on LGBT comics was cancelled without notice, I was hoping to get more info on those books. I took a lot of great ideas away from that afternoon, and hope that the audio for the events panel becomes available in the near future, so I can pass it on to the rest of the Den staff. We do so much business with events and the tables, that every good idea we can steal helps us along the way.

The folks running NYCC decided to create a separate entrance for Pros and Press, but to my surprise, the line to get in for the 4:00 opening was loooooong. I got in line around 3:45, but was inside by 4:05 or so. That line really hustled once they got the doors opened.Nice job, Javitts and Reed Exhibition folks!

And once I finally got inside and took a look around, my mind was blown.

--

A life-size Optimus Prime! The Avengers helicarrier booth! Artists Alley!  There was so much to process and not enough time. I walked over to our booth to check how things were set-up, and I was very impressed; they'd put everything together quite nicely, and had things ready to go. I thought bringing the Batman neon sign was particularly inspired, it really stood out. I made my way over to our friends at ZombiePetz and spoke with Ryan for a bit. I caught up with him a couple times during the con, and he was absolutely insane with sketches and commissions. We carry the ZombiePetz t-shirts at the store, and couldn't be happier for Ryan and the success he's getting.

I waited in line for a while and got one of our Action Comics variants signed by Jim Lee, who was a perfect gentleman. He even remembered me from when we met at the New 52 Retailer Roundtable at DC about 3 months ago. Great guy.

I walked through Artists Alley for a bit, making a mental note of where certain artists and writers were. I immediately kicked myself for not writing down in advance where some of them lived.

By around 6:30pm, I was ready to call it a day. I knew Friday would be a long one, but I had some time to kill before a late dinner with a group of retailers and the DC Sales department. I walked around NYC for a bit, before meeting up with everyone at Hill Country Barbecue which was just awesome. I got to hang with our DC Sales Rep, Stewart, who had shaved his awesome Hulk Hogan-inspired beard (BOO!) and shoot the bull with other store owners. I then took the L back to Brooklyn, and prepared for Day 2 of NYCC Madness.

--

On Friday I got up earlier than my roommates, as I had been invited to a retailer-only breakfast with a couple people from Image Comics. I don't know whether many people responded to the invites or some people slept in (it was at 9am), but when I got to the restaurant, there were 3 other retailers, the Image Sales Guy, and the Publisher of Image! So... small crowd, which meant I got some good face time with one of the decision makers at Image. Even with our "small but getting bigger fast" store status, my feedback was valued and listened to. That felt good, and it was great hearing about some of the books coming out over the next year. (None of which I can talk about, sorry).

By the time breakfast had ended, and I had gotten into the con, it was well after 11, almost 12 noon. I headed over to DC to thank Stewart for dinner, walked to our booth to check in, and then started roaming the Con, looking for artists and writers. This is where my lack of Con experience caused me the largest waste of time. So many writers and artists will be at their booths for an hour here, or an hour there; some put up signs, some leave their assistants. So while there were people I found right off the bat (Brian Wood, writer of DMZ, Northlanders, just announced Conan and soon to be announced Wolverine), others proved to be more elusive.

I had a wonderful conversation with the folks who work for Peter Beagle, writer of The Last Unicorn. We discussed the possibility of him coming to the store to do a signing next year when they re-release the movie in limited release across the country. The comic adapatation of The Last Unicorn is GORGEOUS, and highly recommended to everyone, ever. Plus, IDW is releasing a graphic novel adaptation of the sequel to The Last Unicorn, "Two Hearts".

I spent more time than I wish tracking down the maker of the Popfun glasses we carry in the store. I made at least four trips there to meet him, but each time he had "just left" or was in a meeting somewhere. It was too hectic to talk for too long, but it was nice to meet the guy who's been making all the cool glassware that's been selling so well.

I waited in line again at the DC booth for Jim Lee (had more books to sign), but he showed up late, and the line was too long, and I didn't make the cut-off point. That was disappointing, but only fair as I'd made the cut-off point the day before.

I hung out at the ComicsPro booth for a while and schmoozed with other retailers. Meeting other retailers and talking shop is one of my favorite things, and a source of great ideas. I got a bunch more little tidbits and interesting sales tactics from a couple people, and I look forward to putting some of them to use at The Den, if I can squeeze some extra space out of the comics wall.

Brian Wood was alone at his table, and I caught up to him and talked shop. He's wrapping things up at Vertigo, and doing Conan for Dark Horse, with long time creative partner Becky Cloonan. I re-read his DMZ before I went down to NYC and it's superb. A great work of art. We talked about him doing a signing up at The Den, as he travels up to our area a couple times a year.

I waited in line for a couple writers (Abnett and Lanning), only to have them have to leave for a panel. My man crush on DnA was denied! Curses!

Sadly, I approached one or two creators about doing a signing up at our store, and was rebuffed. I got some attitude or "Ohh, I don't know"-type bs. That didn't win any points with me, and needless to say, they will not be invited our way any time soon. Sorry comic creators, we can't all be as big or important as Mid-Town. Pssh.

Along the way, I bumped into Seth Green, and saw Tom Morello checking out Artist's Alley. I'm not going to lie, I almost started singing some RATM lyrics, but kept my inner rage-fueled fan bottled up.

I headed over to the Marvel booth to check things out, and was blow away by how big the backdrop was. I confess to being disappointed that Marvel was more interested in pushing The Avengers movie than the comics themselves. That was a bummer, especially when you consider how comic-centric DC's booth was.

I caught up with Kieron Gillen, who some of you might know as the writer of Uncanny X-Men #1. He's a Brit, so I won't hold it over his head, but he was a cool guy. We ended up having an entertaining conversation about A-ha later in the day. (Much later. See below).

I did a bit more wandering, and realized it was almost the end of my day. I had plans to meet some retailers out for drinks later, but I decided to head back to Brooklyn for a bit to recuperate. Hours later, I was out with retailers, shooting the bull, and hearing gossip I didn't need to know. Then I headed down to the iFanboy party where Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie were DJ'g. The bar was wayyyy too small for the comics crowd, but I spotted Jason Aaron (his beard is mighty), and a couple people from Comics Alliance chilling out. I grabbed Kieron and we started talking about A-Ha's Take On Me. We found out that we both love 80's music, being only 6 months apart in age, but Kieron's knowledge of 80's pop music is INSANE. As in, trumps mine. The man is an 80's music afficionado.

By now, it was after midnight, and I may or may not have had too many drinks. I deny nothing. The swanky Brooklyn pad was calling out to me, and it was time to sleep. L train to Williamsburg, 3 block walk, and I was out.

--

Since the original plan was for me to work Thursday and Friday, I got Saturday and Sunday off. I lounged around Brooklyn on Saturday and caught up with friends Saturday night. I went over early on Sunday for an hour and did some more wandering around the show, then went back to Williamsburg, packed my bags, and headed north for the long sojourn to Poughkeepsie.

--

Some final thoughts:

* As someone who's never "done" a big con before, I made the right decision not to plan too far ahead. That left my schedule flexible to see and do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

* That said, I wish I'd done a little more research into learning where creators live. Getting crestors to do signings is easy when they live in NYC. When they've recently moved to Oregon, not so much.

* I've gotten some feedback from customers and other pros that the aisles were too small and it was too crowded. Since I stayed away on Saturday, I can only imagine how nuts it was, but I don't think this is something that's going to change. The Javitts is the only place to hold a convention of this type in NYC, but it's not really the best venue.

* Big props to the rest of the staff at the Den for the traveling, packing, unpacking, breaking down, putting together, and then doing it all over again on Sunday.

* Saw a bunch of reservists and regulars while I was down there. Nice job representing the Dragon's Den, guys!

New York Comic Con 2011 Update

So I was thinking about the staff that are already down in NYC setting up the booth and attending the brunch or panels today, and I thought about a few things I missed yesterday with the main post.

Come to the booth and scan our code! Not able to, play along with the home game... or just check out the code and enjoy what we are saying from the show:

We will have the code on shirts at the show, but to see the cool design, you'll have to stop by the booth and see us walking around.  We will even have some of these very cool limited edition t-shirts at the booth!  What more info... SCAN the code!

We also have a few more items to bring with us that you might find very interesting.  If you are a fan of the Walking Dead and the new series starting soon, check out the Walking Dead board games... yes board games, also the etched pint glasses and steins!

We also brought many other games including the Resident Evil Deck Building Game! Such a great game with 3 different methods of play! 

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

New York Comic Con 2011

Well we are putting on the finishing touches and packing up all the product for New York City Comic Con! There is so much to do and so much more to prep for, but I think we have a handle on it and will be ready for a spectacular con!

So if you are heading down, then stop in and see us, we will be at booth #2920! This is our first trip to NYC Comic Con, so we were really putting a lot into what to bring and how much, so here is an idea of what we are going to have at the show:

• Variant Amazing Spider-Man #666 with our custom cover
• Video Games: Nintendo, Nintendo Gameboy, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and more!
• Magic the Gathering: Innistrad, M12, Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia, and more special items!
• Yu-Gi-Oh:  XYZ Starters, Hidden Arsenal SE, Generation Force SE, Gold Series 4
• Pokemon: Black and White, Black and White Emerging Powers
• Heroclix: Superman, Captain America, Giant Sized X-Men
• Etched Glasses: Marvel, Hobbit, and Walking Dead
• Star Wars and Ghost Busters talking plushes
• Power Rings, Flash Point Pins, Select Back Issue Comic, Variant Cover Comic Books
• RA Salvatore's new Hard Cover "Neverwinter" The Neverwinter Sage Book 2 **(Don't forget that he will be there for signing later in the show)

Stop and see some of our friends from up here in NY:

Zombie Petz: Booth #2838
Iron Age Production (Jaded Comic Book): Booth #1924

Who from the store might you run into at NYC Comic Con:

Dave
Sean "Striderlotr"
Stasi "Dengirl"
Scott
Brittani "DnDPrincessAria"
Amanda


Hope to see you at NYC Comic Con!

Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

The New 52: The Reviews, Mr. Rood, and The Rage

So, September is over and wow, what a month. Easily the best of month of comics we've had in a long time. It was exciting and crazy and nuts and fun and just... wow.  I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous about the orders we'd placed for the New 52. As most of you noticed, we got a LOT of comics in this month. We placed those orders a couple months ahead of time, and had no idea how much interest there would be. Fortunately for us, there's been plenty.

In addition to new and returning customers, I've also gotten a lot of questions, both in-store and in e-mail, about the New 52. Now that September is in the books, I figured I'd post some general answers and information.

(I want to quickly thank loyal employee Brittany, her paramour Garrett, and miniature artist extraordinaire Mark Lake 2.0 who went to New Orleans for some game thing, and brought me back a hand-rolled stogie.)

So, *lights cigar*, it's the weekend, let's do this.

--

Q: You guys ordered a lot of the New 52. How come you have more than other stores?

A: I can't speak for the ordering practices of other businesses. However, my sense is that a lot of comic stores played their numbers close to the vest. They didn't think this was going to do well, or they didn't have the cashflow to go in deep on the #1's. I can't blame them, noone gets rich off of comics anymore. The last couple years have been rough on everyone, it's a tough business.

Q: Why did you guys think it was going to succeed, and they didn't?

A: Because this was the first Action Comics and Detective Comics #1 in over 60 years.

Q: But DC and Marvel re-start all the tim-

A: Don't mean to cut you off, but that's not completely accurate. In the last 15 years, Marvel has gone to the re-launch well again and again. I think the Avengers books have been relaunched with 4 #1's since 1998? Maybe 5 if you include Heroes Reborn? Thor and Cap have gotten at least 3 themselves. Over at DC, Green Lantern got a new #1, Flash has gotten a couple (botched) re-launches, but Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman have kept their corresponding numbering for decades.

You can say that Marvel has been guilty of numerous re-launches (too many, really), but DC has not been as egregious in this area.

Q: So it was because of Action Comics and Detective Comics #1?

A: Yes and no.

Q: But you said-

A: I was being snarky.

Q: Shocker.

A:... Is there a question?

Q: So why did you order so many?

A: John Rood convinced me.

Q: Who is John Rood?

A: Back in June and July, DC Comics sent most of their VP's (Including Jim Lee, Geoff Johns and Dan Dido) across the country to convince retailers to order huge on this and answer questions about the re-launch. I went to the one in Manhattan and came away feeling inspired. Everyone from DC was enthusiastic and you got the sense that it was "all hands on deck" for the re-launch. They were going to do everything possible to make this work, and if it didn't, people were going to get fired. That's not a joke; Didio laughed more than once about how his job was on the line.

But it was John Rood who got me thinking that the New 52 was going to be a success. Rood is DC"s Executive VP of Sales & Marketing. When it was his turn to speak, he talked about how DC was going to do newspapers, blogs, this and that, even some radio... and then he mentioned tv.

I sat up.

Over the last ten years, comics have gotten a tremendous amount of press in newspapers and magazines, but only the occasional mention on TV. Usually it's controversy, like when a Captain America comic criticized the Tea Party and Fox News gets upset.

But COMMERCIALS? On all of the Warner Bros. channels? That's a game-changer. Even with TiVO's and illegal downloading, lots of people still watch commercials.

That's when I knew this was going to be big.

There was also a number of returnability and cost-saving measures available to us from DC; that convinced David and I that we had a safety net to work from. If this didn't work, it wouldn't cripple the Den.

Q: So have you sold a lot of the New 52?

A: Tons. Just tons and tons and piles of comics. It's been heavenly.

Q: But you sold out of some..

A: Yeah, we're not perfect. We under-ordered on most of the Batman titles, and anything that ends with "-girl" or "-woman". Seems to be a trend, actually. In talking with other stores, the Batman titles were the first to go. Most of the first prints from the Batman family will be the hardest to find in the long run, I suspect.

Q: Do you think comic stores will go out of business like they did in the 90's, because of the New 52?

A: Not quite, no.

Q: Why?

A: There were numerous reasons comic stores closes in the 90's: Over-reliance on variant covers, late comics from Image, the distributor wars, over-ordering on X-Men #1, the move from the back-issue model to the bookstore/Graphic novel-model, there's no one definitive reason for the bust period of the 90's; it was a perfect storm of calamity.

But the New 52 #1's were under-ordered. Supply did NOT meet demand. Not even close. Stores didn't order enough, DC didn't print enough. End of story.

Q: What about digital comics?

A: I think we're at least a full generation away from paper comics dying. DC has proved that there's still plenty of life in paper comics and comic book stores.

We're not going anywhere.

Q: Are you going to offer digital through your website?

A: At some point, yes. However, the business agreement to offer DC's New 52 through the web was... well, it wasn't very good from a retail standpoint. Not going to spend a lot of time on that, other than to say it was onerous. Not something I wanted our name attached to.

Q: How many of the #1's have gone to 2nd printings?

A: All of them.

Q: All? Wow.

A: Yeah, and Justice League #1 is on the 4th printing. Batgirl is on the 3rd. Detective will get another print, as will others.

Q: You reviewed all of the #1's?

A: Yeah. You can find the reviews for Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.

Q: Any stand-outs from the New 52? What else did you think about them?

A: I have lots of thoughts.

Q: No kidding.

A: ....

I'll let that one go.

Some conclusions from the New 52:

*  From a sales and creative view, the Batman family did fantastic. Thumbs-up across the board. Batman #1 and Batwoman #1 were great. I didn't like Detective as much as everyone else, but that's just a matter of personal taste.

* I think some of the costumes were a little TOO 90's-esque. See Deathstroke, Teen Titans (hate the Kid Flash and Red Robin re-designs)

* There were a bunch of surprises: Frankenstein, Animal Man, Demon Knights and Swamp Thing were all solid reads. Animal Man, especially, was creepy as hell.

* The Legion books were a massive disappointment: Legion Lost needed a re-write. Legion of Super-Heroes looked gorgeous, but was NOT a good #1. Not getting these books right was a missed opportunity.

* I confess, the Green Lantern books didn't do much for me. Yes yes, I know, I'm a huge Red Lanterns mark, but I thought that was the best of the GL books. New Guardians wasn't bad, but Green Lantern didn't feel like a good starting point for new fans, and Green Lantern Corps was just there. The days of GL being DC's best-sellers are over, I think.

* Superman, Action Comics, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash were all home-runs. Great books all around,  but in different ways. The Aquaman scene (you know which one) was hilarious. Flash was gorgeous. Action Comics was Grant Morrisson doing his Golden Age pastiche. Wonder Woman was the first WW book I'd read in years that felt right.

* There's been some internet hub-bub about the sexual content in Catwoman and Red Hood. Between that and the violence in many of the books, I don't think most of the New 52 are appropriate for under-16 crowd.

* Great to see Justice League with Jim Lee on board, but it felt a little too decompressed. Not enough story for my tastes.

* Most of the New 52 ended on a cliffhanger. The era of decompressed storytelling is limping to a close, we're going to see more of this type of storytelling in the future.

Q: Speaking of Justice League, why does Hal have a ring there, but not in his own book?

A: One area DC really botched was explaining the timelines and continuity aspect of the New 52. In short: Action Comics is Year Zero for it's first story arc. Justice League is Year One for it's first story arc. Everything else is Year Five, or thereabouts.

Q: So what will happen with the #2's?

A: Well, we increased our order on some of them.

Q: Really?

A: Yeah, and I ordered bunches of the 2nd printings, although I don't think they'll be around for very long.

Q: More sell-outs? Does this mean my comics will be worth more?

A: Ah, er, um.. well, look. I can't deny there's serious secondary market action on some of these titles, but anyone looking at these as an investment should remember the Death of Superman. Those books aren't worth much more than cover price anymore, if that.

Q: So that's a 'no', then?

A: It's a warning.

 Gambling on collectibles is very risky. For my money, I'd buy the ones you enjoyed reading, stick 'em in a bag and board, and check e-bay once the collected editions come out. Or keep 'em forever. Or fold 'em up and put them in your back pocket. I've got a couple customers who do that.

Q: My last question is about Marvel.

A: Haha... yeah. Marvel.

Q: What are they going to do to compete?

A: Great question. Short answer: No idea. Long answer: They have to do something. They've been crowing about being the #1 publisher of comics for years and years. Those days are done, over, kaput. I look at my sales for the month, and every DC book outsold our best-selling Marvel titles (FF & Uncanny X-Force).

I also think there's something to be said about Marvel's $3.99 price point not matching the quality of some of their titles. Sometimes I read Avengers or a couple other Marvel titles, and put the book down 3 minutes later and say to myself "That's it? Really? Yeesh."

And I know I shouldn't say that (yet another reason why I don't review books much) but at the end of the day, I know that every dollar counts more than it has in years. I want you to enjoy what you buy, not make purchases out of inertia - aka "I've been buying this one forever", etc. I can always find a good comic to put in your hands, I promise. :)

Q: So what's next?

A: Next is Comic-Con in New York. The Dragon's Den will be in attendance. We'll be selling tons of games and gaming merchandise at Booth #2920. I'll be running around meeting people and getting publishers to buy me drinks. There's also a rumor we'll be giving away a complete set of the New 52 #1's. (I can neither confirm nor deny such a rumor.)

After NYCC... it's the holidays, and that's a whole 'nother level of craziness.

But in the meantime, it's an exciting time to be a fan of comics

-Scott.

(This post was written with the assistance of the music-based word editor OmmWriter and a well-rolled cigar. Thanks Garrett.)

DC New 52 - Week 4

4 weeks and 51 comic reviews later, the first month of the New 52 is done and in the books. (Yes, I missed a couple reviews along the way, whaddyawantfromme). Each week, I took home a pile of comics, then read and reviewed each one. I occasionally had to scrub my brain of the violence and gratuitous nudity (okay, I didn't scrub all of it), but it was an interesting challenge; Reviewing books has never been something that came naturally to me. Personally, I don't like picking apart the medium I love, and professionaly, I really don't like speaking too critically of any of our product, even though I think it's important to be honest. But I learned a couple things along the way, so I guess I could conclude my month-long reviewing experiment with "it was fun".

And I am never, ever doing it again.

... although Sean and David are telling me these reviews are driving traffic to the blog, and that I might be doing more of this in the future.

Oy.

--

So here we are, Week 4 of the New 52. Coming into September, it was the last week of the month that looked the most intriguing:  Cult characters (Firestorm), Old concepts by hot new talent (I, Vampire), popular b-lister written by popular A-lister (Aquaman), several artists taking on writing duties for the first time (Manapul on Flash, Van Sciver on Firestorm) and one high-profile artist writing again for the first time in a long time (Perez on Superman).

A very interesting batch of books. And overall, I'd say this is the best comics week of the month.

Hands down.

So let's get into this and see if I have any more rage-induced meltdowns.

Run Forest, run.

* Flash #1 - Francis Manapul had some assistance on the writing chores, but wow... this did something no comic has ever done before: Made Barry Allen likeable. Sorry Silver Age fans, but to me, Barry Allen is the equivalent of the bow tie; it's quaint, is nice to bring out every couple years, but gets really boring, really fast. But yeah, this was a great read, and you can see Manapul really playing with the layout and format of each page. Reminds me a bit of JH Williams on Batwoman. I think this book has serious potential to go from very-good to Fantastic.

And that's a Flash Fact.

(Sorry, couldn't help myself. It was that good.)

* Justice League Dark #1 - If you're going to take a bunch of Vertigo fan-favorites and put them together on a Justice League-like team, then Peter Milligan is the guy to do it. Whereas Red Lanterns sometimes felt a little too mainstream, this one is dark, creepy and has just the right tone. I see they cleaned up Zatanna's costume a little, too. Good idea, the fan backlash on that was getting a little hoary. The art on this was a good mix of Vertigo and Super-hero, but it felt a little rushed sometimes. Great start, this looks like it'll go the distance.

* Blackhawks #1 - Had to struggle to finish this one, but that's because I don't have much connection to the characters. Okay, I'm lying, I have _zero_ connection to these characters. Have I ever read a Blackhawks story? Hm. Food for thought. Anyways, the story was okay, the art felt rushed here, too, in places. This was probably the most "meh"-like book of the week for me. Really didn't do much for me.

* Voodoo #1 - My Wildstorm-induced rage has been whittled away after the last month, so no red ring this time about how they've destroyed one of my precious characters (not yet, at least. keep reading). This book was a little gratuitous, and felt a little light on the plot. Whereas Catwoman was cheesecakey and over-the-top but still had a good story, Voodoo was lacking in substance.

Look at him. So cute.

* Annihilators Earthfall #1 - Ah, Abnett and Lanning. I may have a mancrush on these guys. The cosmic Marvel books have been awesome the last couple years, and this books is no exception. Plus, look at that cover! Beta Ray Bill bringing THE SMACKETH DOWN on the Avengers? Totally sold. And it's got a talking Russian dog cosmonaut.

What? Oh, sorry, yeah, Annihilators Earthfall is not part of the New 52. Or, um, published by DC. But it's a damn good book anyways. Go buy it.

IT'S GOT A TALKING RUSSIAN DOG COSMONAUT, FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD.


* Fury of Firestorm #1 - A little heavy-handed with the race conversations, and I was surprised that they went for a cold reboot of the Firestorm mythos, instead of playing off the Brightest Day stories, which, frankly, set them up just fine. But they lost me at the end with the 2 Firestorms and Fury. That just didn't do it for me at all, sorry.

* Aquaman #1 - Oh hey, this was good. Good, clean, bright, shiny art. Aquaman just popped right off the page, and the story was fun. I had a "They did this bit far better on South Park" moment about halfway through the story, but I really dug this. Good action, good laughs, good drama, good ending. Best Geoff Johns story of the month, hands down.

* Green Lanterns New Guardians #1 - Oh. Oh wait. What. What are they-what is this. What.. Why..  Why are they remaking Kyle's origin? What is- Kyle has friends? No DC, no Kyle Rayner is the creative artistic type. WE HAVE NO FRIENDS, DC. What is, wait he's being compared to Hal? That SILVER AGE LOSER? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT IS THIS- WHY, DC? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO? WHY CAN'T YOU JUST I DON'T UNDERSTAND- WHYDOYOUMAKEMESOANGRYOUWONTLIKEITWHENI'MANGRYYHULKSMASHHULK
WANTREDRINGTURNINTOREDLANTERNAND...

Sigh. Okay, this was a really, really solid first issue. Quick origin, then a jump right into the action, while quickly drawing comparisons between him and Hal, and... man, Grant Morrisson did this much better in JLA about 12 years ago. Oh, but hey, the Rainbow Corps show up, along with my main squeeze, Bleez. Good times.

* All-Star Western #1 - Jonah Hex in Ye Olde Times of Gotham City? Yeah, this was fun, although it felt a bit padded. Add in one of the Arkham's, and all the backstory of the city created by Scott Snyder in Gates of Gotham (great story), and the writing was pretty good. The art was flat though, not a lot of contrast in color or tone. I understand why they went for this particular look, but they overdid it a bit.

* Savage Hawkman #1 - Again, the art didn't look completely finished here. The writing was okay, but nothing special. And I have to say: Hawkman is the posterboy for screwed-up continuity @ DC for the last 25 years. I don't think he should've been part of the reboot, and I don't know that I quite understood his origin story in this one. Weak first issue and the weakest of the week.

* Teen Titans #1 - Fresh start with the characters and I liked it. The art crackled, and the writing was solid. "N.O.W.H.E.R.E." seems a bit much, though, but Lobdell and Booth did a good job here. Nice hook on the ending, even though we probably knew that was coming.

Nice um, bunny ears.

* Batman The Dark Knight #1 - Man, David Finch can really draw, can't he? If he can stay monthly,and undo the mess he's made over the last year on his first aborted attempt on this series, maybe he can salvage his reputation. Gorgeous book. As for the writing, I have a soft spot for Paul Jenkins: A number of years ago, he wrote an Inhumans mini-series, with artwork by Jae Lee. Beautiful art, great story, I think it's Jenkins' best work ever. But everything he's written since (with the exception of the original Sentry story) has lacked the magic and mystery he put into Inhumans. The writing on this one is no exception, the words felt awkward and forced sometimes. It's been awhile since Jenkins had a monthly gig, so I'm hoping he gets back into things on this title. But for now, the art is enough for me to say good things about this one, even though that last page was just... yeesh. Don't know about that.

* I, Vampire #1 - I had high hopes for this one, and it did pretty well. The art was a wee bit too Vertigo-esque (more of that rushed feeling I've been getting over the last month.) The writer, Joshua Fialkov wrote the INCREDIBLY creepy Echoes for Top Cow earlier this year. That story sent chills up my spine. Great stuff. I, Vampire succeeds in setting up the first issue, although the art sometimes got in the way of the story. I needed to re-read this to make sure I had the characters right.

* Superman #1 - And now, something slightly different. For all the internet hooplah about Scott Lobdell writing three of the New52, it went practically unnoticed that George Perez was jumping in on the "other" Superman book. The writing was distinctly old-school, but I came away feeling like I actually _read_ a comic book. It had weight and heft, it felt like a story that had consequence. A good done-in-one, although the "old-school" feeling was a little much some times. The art was serviceable, no flaws, didn't feel rushed, but I wish they'd gone with someone a little flashier for the first issue, y'know?

New dress code at work? I'm sold.

...aaaand that's it. Come back this weekend as I blog my concluding thoughts on the first month of the New 52, talk about what we're doing at NYCC, and I smoke a hand-rolled cigar brought to me directly from the New Orleans aka The Big Easy.

No. Really.

-Scott.

(This blog post was written with the assistance of Ommwriter. Simple music-based word editor that's highly recommended for any writing types out there. )

Infinity Mini Tournament 9/10/11

We had our first Infinity Mini Tournament at the Dragon's Den on September 10, 2011. With only 4 players it was a decent start to a newer system that we play.

We started with a smaller force composition so our mini tournament would not last too long and people would be free within a few hours.

THE RULES!

1. Forces no more then 150pts
2. Standard 3 SWC (Special Weapons Cost) as dictated by the force size (1 SWC per 50 pts)
3. Single Army List
4. Standard Firefight Scenario

Dave - Yu Jing (One of the Demo Forces)

Steve - Aleph

Tom - Ariadna

Kenny - Pan Oceania (Our newest player who showed up out of the blue with a painted force!)

With only four players we played in a round robin style with all players getting to play each other. We gave 60 minutes for each round with time called and that last turn being played out.

3 Points for a Win, 2 for a Tie, 1 for a Loss. Victory Points were tallied at the end in case of a tie.

After three hours of constant fighting we had our clear champion.

Aleph - 1st Place
Pan Oceania - 2nd Place
Ariadna - 3rd Place
Yu Jing - 4th Place

With that we had everything done within 3 1/2 hours. We started at 2pm and finished around 5:30pm. All players seemed to like this style of tournament as it was refreshing and quick. We all had an opportunity to enjoy the morning, play in the middle of the afternoon and get back to our regular schedule to enjoy the evening with friends for family.

One quick note with this type of Tournament. Scenarios are really needed for this game. A quick tournament like this is fun but objectives and tactical ploys would really open it up for a world of new possibilities.

We hope to have our next tournament in a few weeks in October. Check out the Dragon's Den's schedule of events to find what are the upcoming events.

As always ask for a Demo of the game system on Wednesdays, Thursdays, or Saturdays! We have four demo forces available that are fully painted and usable during the tournaments also.

Glad to see people trying out a new game and hope to see you all on the battlefield for our next tournament!

Stan

Support Your Friendly Local Gaming Store

OK, I'll keep this simple.

SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL GAME STORE for Magic!

This Saturday is the Prerelease for a new Magic the Gathering set, Innistrad. I personally think it looks great and I know that while not everyone is a fan on the new 2 sided transform mechanic cards, I give WotC credit for trying new rules and ideas to keep the game fresh! However, that is not the point of this post...

If you do not buy your Magic cards and play in your local game store for these types of events, then you are hurting both yourself and the Magic community has a whole! Why you ask? I'll give you a few simple reasons.

First, your local game store gives you a place to PLAY! You can't play on-line with that great new box of Innistrad you just got off the web at a few bucks cheaper than your local store, can you! Yet, here is your friendly local game store (FLGS) giving you table space to hang out for FNM and many other times during the week. That table space could be replaced with a pool table or a new product line of model train accessories that would make your FLGS money.  Buy your Magic at your FLGS to help your FLGS provide PLAY SPACE FOR YOU!

Second, who is there for you when you need help with your deck or when you wanted to learn how to play in the first place? Yeah, you might have learned from your friends or family but when you really needed unbiased advice on your bud's really annoying mill deck or how do I beat Red Deck Wins, I bet your FLGS was there to help. I'll even bet the guys and gals at the FLGS didn't even charge you to ask those rules questions or help you adjust the mana ratio of your new deck. Go find that service for free on-line! Buying your Magic and playing in FLGS store events helps to keep that resource alive for YOUR FUTURE NEEDS!

Third, your FLGS helps find you new people to play with. Tired of beating your kid brother for the 347th time? Come in for FNM and see if your "unbeatable merfolk" deck does so well against a former state champ. Hey, maybe you get to draft with a Pro Tour player or win one game against the guy who won GP Providence this year. Chances are, these other players won't be dropping by your kitchen table to play with you. Looking to trade an extra Stoneforge Mystic or 4? Well, these guys are more likely to need them than your mom. You might even make some new friends - ones that like playing the same game you play! In short, you get to be PART OF A COMMUNITY!

Last, and this may not mean much to some of you but buying and supporting your FLGS is good for your wallet. The money you spend locally goes back into making your town a better place to live. Maybe you want a job at your FLGS. Maybe your friend already works there. Maybe you like the hot chick who works there (Yeah, they do work at FLGSs and I have pics to prove it!). It would be a real shame if your FLGS closed because johnny internet was $5 cheaper for a box of Innistrad (Bet you forgot to add shipping) and now you have to wait for it to be delivered instead of cracking those minty fresh packs at midnight on release day! In other words, keeping your FLGS strong HELPS YOUR LIFE!

So, when it comes time to buy your Magic, stop and think about the secondary benefit to you and your friends, family and neighbors and SUPPORT YOUR FRIENDLY LOCAL GAME STORE otherwise, you might be home on a Friday Night playing Magic with, I mean by, yourself!

Good Luck with Innistrad!

Dave

PS. Yes, I own a FLGS and may have a biased view BUT, I can prove each of my points objectively so I would love to hear from you folks out there.

PPS. Support Your Local FLGS is a nod to two great James Garner movies done in the 70s, Support Your Local Gunfighter and Support Your Local Sheriff. If you are unfamiliar with these flicks or James Garner, I am sure Netflix can help you out.

New 52 - Week 3 - Reviews from Kathy!

Kathy from The Gamer's Gambit in NJ has also been reviewing The New 52. Check out what she thinks!

Batman: A good beginning, even if the origin story is glossed over. This comic dives into who is Batman? Who is Bruce Wayne? What is Gotham City and is there hope for it? 3.5 out of 5.  

Birds of Prey: Just as the Birds of Prey begin someone wants them—and a nosy reporter— out of the picture. Will this mysterious group succeed? An exciting beginning that could have used a little more story that seems to have taken a different turn with the new creative team. 3 out of 5.

Blue Beetle: The origin of the scarab, and why the earth should fear it. A villainous group wants the scarab, but will they be able to get it? Although this comic, sadly, confirms that Ted Kord was never a Blue Beetle, it’s a good story and a solid beginning. Sadly, 3 out of 5. I’m hoping issue two is better.

Captain Atom: Beginning with a crisis about his powers is an interesting start; a way to get around the origin story while still explaining who he is. Even so, it’s kind of meh. 2.5 out of 5.

Catwoman: From reading this, we know that Catwoman loves trouble. Jewelry, cats, money, Batman, sure, she loves those things as well, but they all lead back to the same: trouble. After her apartment gets blown up, she needs a way to get cash fast. Meaning, she needs something to steal. 3 out of 5.

Green Lantern Corps: Thousands of light years away, Green Lanterns are getting massacred! On earth, Guy Gardener and John Stewart try to balance their heroic and civilian lives, until duty calls. 3 out of 5.

Legion of Superheroes: Oh look! Introduction bubbles! So now we know who all these people are… but I’m still confused as to who the people in Legion Lost are. But it’s much less confusing than Legion Lost, and is even enjoyable at times. I just wish they reversed the release order of this with Legion Lost. 2 out of 5.

Nightwing: Dick Grayson is back to being Nightwing, beating up criminals in his own way rather than as Batman. He’s used to seeing the worst in Gotham, but how will he handle the circus coming to town? To everyone else, it’s just an ordinary circus. To him, it’s a bitter-sweet memory: place where he grew up and performed, and the place where his parents died. 4 out of 5.

Wonder Woman and Red Hood: I put both of these together because I’m confused. Wonder Woman dives right into acts of evil, but I don’t recognize the guy who looks like he’s made entirely out of black rocks. Nor do I recognize the girl that’s being chased after or why she knows Diana/Wonder Woman. And Red Hood? It… seems like DC’s answer to Deadpool, but it doesn’t have the same feeling. I know who Red Hood is because I’m a Batman fan, but what is he doing with those two. Why is Starfire on the run? Why is she so quick to have sex? It has just as little explanation as Wonder Woman. What is going on in both of these?  Both 1 out of 5.

What do I recommend so far?

Frankenstein: Agent of Shade- Don’t let the cover or the goofy title fool you. It’s good. Good characters, good story, I can’t wait for issue two. My favorite, if only because I want it to succeed so much! The Bat family? They’ll do fine. Green Lantern? No problem. I’m most worried this will fail due to a lack of star power despite being better than the rest of the 52’s.

Batgirl: This comic has, sadly, gotten a lot of negative feedback due to Barbara Gordon no longer being Oracle. It’s a touchy subject, but it’s been handled well. It’s emotional and realistic, and it’s nice to see that even superheroes have trouble with fear. I’m reading this to see Barbara Gordon adjust to her new role.

Batwoman: The art may be better than the story, but I’m a sucker for mysteries and the supernatural. For all of the “world’s greatest detective” praise that Batman gets, this one seems to have much more mystery to it than the main Batman titles.

New 52 - Week 3

Another week of comic-y goodness from DC, as The New 52 rolls on. We've still got most of the books in stock from the first 3 weeks (including Justice League and Action Comics).

Let's get into it:

--

Catwoman #1: I'm a huge fan of Judd Winick's independent work (Barry Ween, Pedro and Me), but most of his DC work has felt flat. This, however, was a wild sexy ride. If you've been reading the internet, you already know about the... encounter, at the end of the book. This was far more fun than I thought it'd be, to be honest. Then again, I'm biased, Dick Grayson isn't the only one who has a thing for redheads.

(That comment will make far more sense if you read a couple of this week's books... but I'm not telling which.)

Supergirl #1: Supergirl lands to earth, falls through Kansas, burrows through the planet to Russia, gets into a fight and... that's pretty much it. Waitwhat? This book read a little too fast for me. Not enough content, but the art was nice.

DC Universe Presents Deadman #1: Ehhh... i dunno. The art was okay, the writing was okay, the ending was a little abrupt, but I wish they'd stayed more in line with the Brightest Day continuity (as hinted in Hawk & Dove), rather than re-do his origin. Overall, a good #1, but nothing special.

Red Hood & The Outlaws #1: Holy moly, a comic featuring Jason Todd that makes him actually likeable? Scott Lobdell is 2 for 2 on his DCU books so far. The art was good, Starfire was a bit, um, provocative, but this was a solid start.

Blue Beetle #1: Jaime Reyes returns, again, as the Blue Beetle. I really liked the introduction, tying the Scarab in with the Lantern Corps. This was a little light-hearted, compared to the rest of the DCU, it felt more like the early issues of Ultimate Spider-man, which is exactly the tone they should be going for.

Wonder Woman #1: Yeah, okay, now this is a WW book I can get behind. One of the better WW stories I've read in years, frankly. They're dipping their feet into the Greek mythology behind the character, while creating a new villain and adding a new supporting character. Great read.

Legion of Super-heroes #1. le sigh. Okay, I've got to say, the art on this was GORGEOUS. Great detail, lush backgrounds, just incredible stuff. Francis Portella, you created a fan. But the story... man, this would've been a good Legion of Super-heroes #7, but this was NOT a good #1. It felt like a continuation of the previous run, and had characters all over the place; I had no idea who was who, doing what and where. Good comic, bad #1. Really loved the art, though.

Captain Atom #1: Couldn't get through it, the art was too murky. Will try again next week.

Nightwing #1: Hey, another solid book! Great to see Dick back as Nightwing, although it went a wee bit too heavy on the origin story for my liking. This was one of my favorites from the week.

Birds of Prey #1: Not certain what to say about this one. It felt the same as the Deadman book, it didn't do much for me, either way. Black Canary is putting together a new team. The art was serviceable, the writing the same. I don't know, this just didn't jump out at me one way or the other.

Batman #1: But this was AWESOME.Great #1, great Batman story. Capullo's art was pitch-perfect, and the writing was fantastic. this is all I want from a Batman book. Great, great stuff.

Next week: I, Vampire! Superman! Justice League Dark! Voodoo!

Eclipse Phase RPG

Eclipse Phase Role Playing Game

I've started to run a group of players through Eclipse Phase.  Part of this was to try and play a new game, new setting, and a new rules mechanic.  I've had a chance to run the core book and to gather a group of experienced and novice players to really get a good feel of the game.  I'm hoping to cover some about the game, a little about the rules, and more about how the players took to the system, both players who are experienced and new to role playing games.

The Game:

 Eclipse Phase is produced by Posthuman Studios and has been published by both Posthuman and with Catalyst Games. The game was designed as a paper and pencil role playing game.  The game is a science fiction based game which is heavily influenced by horror and conspiracy. 

The Setting:

In the not so distant future humanity has been transformed into a Transhuman state.  There are more then humans though. Animals have been uplifted to a much higher intelligence level.You can be an uplifted Dolphin, Gorilla, or even a parrot.  In the future the TITANs, Seed AI, have been infected with a virus and turned on Transhumanity. Most of Earth is now inhospitable to live on, so Transhumanity has moved to the stars, or more planets.

The Rules:

The game only involves the use of 2 dice, both of which are D10s.  Most of the time you are rolling as a D100, but some times a single D10 is needed.  There are also a much high amount of "Role" playing instead of "Roll" playing. The game allows for a tremendous amount of interaction between the players and the Game Master.

The Players:

GM: Sean "Striderlotr" Banks
1. Dave Steltenkamp
2. Stan Tyler
3. Sara Tyler
4. Stasi "Dengirl" King
5. Brittani "dndprincessaria" MacFadden
6. Amanda Cowen

As we get a few more games under our belts, we will post some comments about how the game actually plays out especially with combat and skill challenges.  Check back to see what everyone thought of the game!
 
Sean "Striderlotr" Banks

Ninja Legend of the Scorpion Clan Review

Another new game that I had a chance to play was Ninja-Legend of the Scorpion Clan. It is an intriguing game of an almost spy vs. spy nature, and is made by the same people who created Legend of the 5 Rings. The object of the game is for the Ninja and her accomplice, the Traitor to complete their 2 secret missions while the Guards attempt to stop them.  It truly is a very strategic multiplayer game, and a good way to spend an hour or so.  Thank you to all the hard workers at the AEG booth at Gen Con, who made sure that their retailers would have a chance to try out their new games before release!

This game is different than anything I have ever personally played, and the reasons for that are numerous. First of all, Ninja is probably one of the few games that plays well as not only a 2 or 4 player, but equally well (if not better!) as a 3 player.  Secondly, the fact that each player is responsible for their own actions but can still confer with other "allied" members is something not often seen in boardgames these days. Finally, the idea of each player requiring an individual (included) map to mark locations of either enemies or objectives is a very distinct feature, which I feel AEG has most definitely hit the spot on. But perhaps I should show you instead...

OPENING THE BOX

When you first open Ninja's box, the first items you see are the board and the 4 maps.  Underneath those is the 16-page rulebook, and finally the 27 miniatures, 4 decks, 6 mission objective cards, and 4 player privacy screens.  All of this is stored in a standard plastic box, although the outer cardboard box is sturdier than other comparable games. When you open the board for the first time, you'll see it is a tile-like foldout board, similar to Memoir '44 or Battle Cry.  Along the side is a descending group of 20 circles, which shows the turns of the game.  Underneath that is the Turn Order box, a handy reference for what each turn consists of.  Last is the 4 Alert Levels, which go from None to High.  You'll also notice that while the board is a beautifully rendered "blueprint" of a noble castle and gardens, there are faint blue and yellow dividing lines crossing its surface.

These are important for the maps which each player needs to fully enjoy the game.  Each player, whether Guard, Ninja or Traitor has a paper map on which to draw (about 25 map sheets per pad).  These are used to figure out where objectives are hidden, where the secret tunnel is, and which areas still need to be searched. Of course, it would not do to have a Guard see what the Traitor has marked off, even (ahem) accidentally...so the player screens are a must as well!
The plastic miniatures are also fairly well-crafted and are different colors for easy referencing, especially as the colors match up with the player screens. 

There are 20 tan and brown guards (10 with spears, 10 with swords), 1 red Traitor, 1 black Ninja and 3 yellow Drunk Guards.  There are also 2 silver Lanterns, 1 for placing on the current Turn Circle and current Alert Level.  

NOTE: Whereas the Guard cards have a tan Lion symbol on them and use corresponding tan/brown miniatures, the deck colors for the Traitor and Ninja are altered.  Thus, the Traitor miniature is red but uses the black Scorpion deck, and the Ninja miniature is black but uses the red Scorpion deck.  I don't know if this was intentional, but thought it should be pointed out!

PLAYING THE GAME
Now that everything has been explained, let's discuss game play.  As noted before, this can be a 2, 3 or 4 player game.  If it is 2 player, 1 person controls the Guards and 1 person controls the Traitor and Ninja. For 3 player, 1 person controls the Guards, and the Traitor and Ninja are split. The Guards are split as well, if you play with 4 people. 

First, set up your board and draw your cards.  Ninja takes 8 of the 12 cards available, Traitor takes 7 of the 10, and Guards take 24 of the 36 for their hands.  However, the remaining 12 Guard cards are kept out as a Draw deck.  No cards are to be shared with enemy players, and each deck has cards that are specific to the character using them.  For example, only Guards can play Listen cards, only the Traitor can use Potent Sake cards, and only the Ninja can play Shuriken cards.

Then, 8 individual Guards are posted as sentries, while the remaining Guards are grouped into patrols of 2.  Due to the wording of the cards, it is very advantageous to mix patrols (aka have 1 sword Guard and 1 spear Guard  per patrol).  The Traitor and Ninja miniatures are NOT placed on the board, and won't be for most of the game, but keep them nearby for when the Guards do find them. 

The Guard player takes her map and marks off the locations of 8 sleeping guards as well as 2 Traps, 2 Hidden Sentries, and the locations of the 6 Mission Goals (A thru F) that the Traitor and Ninja will be trying to find. They must ALWAYS be placed in their own zone. The Ninja and Traitor mark off their starting positions according to the rules, as well as the entrance and exit of the Secret Tunnel.  Place 1 Lantern on the lowest Alert Level, and 1 on the first Turn Circle. Now you are completely set up!

The game gets more complicated as it progresses, and players attempt to stay 1 step ahead of each other, but the Turn Orders always remain the same;

1. Alert Phase- Guard player draws cards corresponding to the current level of alert. The alert level then drops by 1, and the Guard plays any of the drawn cards she wants.

2. Guards Card Phase- Guard player uses cards for special effects.

3. Guards Patrol Phase- All patrols that are able to be moved or changed are moved.

4. Intruders Phase- The Ninja and Traitor make their secret moves, play whichever cards they can, and searches for their Mission Goals.

Although there are many different cards to be played, strategies to use and decisions to make every time the game is played, the Phases must be completed in order.  You cannot move onto the next Phase until the previous one is finished, no matter what.  So, even though your friend is going to spring a Trap on your Ninja or Kenjutsu your Guard, at least you'll know they have to wait their turn...

And there you have it, another wonderful game by our friends at AEG!  Ninja-Legend of the Scorpion Clan is a great game for more experienced players.  On a gamer learning scale (1=extremely new to gaming, 10=gaming professional) I would rate Ninja as a solid 7.  While not the most difficult of boardgames to learn, it does have several nuances that make it an inappropriate "first" for those who are new to board or card games. 

Like most of the games I review, we do have a copy of Ninja in our game library, so if you're in the Poughkeepsie area stop by and play!

Stasi "Dengirl" King

Mordenkain's Magnificent Emporium

Alright you old time "I started playing D&D with the boxed set..." fans out there, the coolest magic item collection has arrived.  Mordenkain dug deep into the vaults at Castle Greyhawk or where ever he keeps his really good stuff to give us 4E stats on some of my personal favorite magic items from all the old editions.  Here are just a few of the items listed in MME:

Armor; Mostly new stuff but we get Plate Mail of Etherealness and Robe of the Archmage

Weapons; Flame Tongue, Frost Brand, Giantslayer, Greater Dancing, Greater Luckblade, Maul of the Titans, Mighty Dwarven Thrower and more

Implements;  Candle of Invocation, Necklace of Prayer Beads plus others
ROD OF ABSORPTION!!
Greater Staff of POWER! (Now, if they just did the Staff of the Magi I could happily convert my 3.5 Epic Level evoker to Paragon)

Wands; Fire, Frost, Lighting and yes, the best wand ever, the Wand of WONDER

AND SO MUCH MORE....including Cursed Items

All right, I could keep going but the best thing I can say is that this book brings to current 4E D&D a lot of my personal favorites and best loved magic items from many of the past editions.  MME also adds some feats, new weapons and armor, a section on henchmen and hirelings, and a random magic item generation table for all the items in the book.  I felt like I was back in AD&D 2E for a while!

Mordenkain's Magnificent Emporium is only available, at least right now, in hobby and gaming stores so if we aren't your Friendly Local Gaming Store, drop by yours.  Of course, we can always get you a copy!

Dave

International Talk Like a Pirate Day 9/19/11

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