This time we learn how to pack up the game, yes pack up the game. Road to Legend is an expansion adding a campaign aspect to the game so it can't be done in a single session, at least not by normal people. You can read about it here.

Latest preview is up for the Descent expansion, I think this is preview #5. Also played 3 more games of Pandemic tonight and we lost all of them. That game sure is tough, we missed winning on the last game by just a few moves. The second game of the night was over in about 10 minutes, the game really plays differently each time, I really enjoy it.

Also correction to something I posted last night the game is 2-4 players. Played some Nexus Ops tonight and that is a first for me, I enjoyed it. Tomorrows the last day of the contest and then I will be doing the judging over the weekend.

Pandemic is a great new game which pits 2-5 players against the game. In other words it is my favorite type of game a cooperative one. I'll do a full blown review another time but after just one session I highly recommend it.

My wife Idy and I choose to give this game a whirl tonight, having just got the game today wasn't an issue as it is easy to learn and teach.

Idy drew the Operations Specialist who has the ability to create a research station anywhere they wish without having to have that cities card. I drew the scientist who can cure a disease with 4 cards instead of 5.

Our initial set up saw a large concentration of the Blue disease in North America and a small bit of yellow in South America, Black had a few cubes out and red was almost no existent. Of course Blue had 3 cubes in New York and Atlanta to start the game.

Turn 1 - Idy
She heads to Kinshasha and builds a research station and then does some treatment to remove 2 yellow cubes. Yellow has the second largest concentration so we want to cut down those 3 cube spots.

Turn 2 - Dan
I move to Kinshasha to meet her and wait a turn to get her black cards via shared knowledge. I'm a bit unsure but the card reads that you can pass a card for an action with shared knowledge which we determined means she has to pass it to me. If she had just passed it to me in Atlanta I could be curing the black disease on turn 2 but i didn't notice what cards she had before she made her move.

Turn 3 - Idy
She uses an action to share her black card with me, then moves off to Miami and makes her way to Toronto to try and treat Blue.

Turn 4 - Dan
I cure black, and since there is so little on the board I decided to move through the area trying to eradicate the disease.

Turn 7 - Idy
Idy moves to Baghdad to share some more yellow cards with me, as we have collected 2 apiece and my scientist can cure with 4.

Turn 8 - Dan
I make my way back to Atlanta via a direct flight and then cure yellow. Things are looking good except on my draw phase I get our first epidemic card. Fortunately it is in Hong Kong and Red isn't an issue at this point.

Turn 11 - Idy
Well Blue isn't looking to hot, since the Epidemic I know that it's a matter of time before we have blue outbreaks. I'm trying to treat blue just to get the numbers down and Idy is over in China removing Red. Unfortunately on her Infecter stage she pulls Mexico city which already has 3 yellow cubes so an outbreak occurs and even though we have a cure for yellow a Mexico city Outbreak is an issue.


Turn 12 - Dan
We still don't have any Blue cards in our hands and I know that Atlanta or some other Blue city is due up. I'm still treating Blue and Idy is trying to make her way back to start eradicating yellow.

Unfortunately on my draw phase we have another epidemic and I pick Chicago and this causes and out break. Which chains to Atlanta and that chains to Toronto and in a matter of seconds all of North America is covered and we are out of Blue cubes. Which resulted in many curses from my wife which was funny.

Conclusion
Overall it was a great first game my whole purpose for buying this game was to find something new my wife would enjoy and she gave it a 10 when I asked her to rate it. We saw that we squandered a turn and then took too long in getting to the blue. The first few turns when black wasn't an issue and we had a cure I squandered trying to eradicate black. There is definitely some luck and randomness to the game, but thats what makes the game fun in my opinion. I know we can't wait to play again, tomorrow night I get to see how the gaming group likes it.

I unfortunately forgot my camera and this AAR is from last week. I had to stop penning it due to work and tried to finish it out tonight. Some of the details are a bit hazy at this point. Good news is i am playing another one tomorrow in my gaming room so I should have pictures with that.

Operation Crusader AAR
Todd and I decided to try the Operation Crusader scenario, we figured it would play fast and we were eager to give an all vehicle scenario a try. I took the Germans and he the Brits. Initial placement had both of us grabbing our country specific objects to start gathering command.

Turn 1 – Initiative Brits
The Brits made a quick dash with their Matilda’s and got behind the cover of the small buildings on the left edge of the map but also grabbed the neutral objective there. I elected to move my Panzer III’s up the other edge of the map but couldn’t reach the objective, I was able to find some good ground to cover this edge and the center of the map.
His Crusaders then made the move up the right side and middle, securing another 1 point neutral objective and in prized position to gain the neutral 2 objective. My final play was to move my Panzer IV’s up the left edge and position them so that if those Matti’s stuck their nose out I would blast them.
Reinforcements arrived at turns end and the Brits were concentrating on that left edge so I positioned to counter.

Turn 2 - Initiative Brits
The Crusader in the middle of the map moves into the Dunes capturing the last command point. From this point on I will never have initiative or will I capture anymore command. He fired his Crusader at one of my Panzer III’s on the right map edge and lightly damages my tank. I return fire with the lightly damaged tank first and the second Panzer III the results of both attacks leave his Crusader heavily damaged.
He captures the 2 point neutral command token near the Dunes but I’ve brought a Panzer IV and a Panzer III to bare on this tank but don’t manage to score any hits. The rest of his reserves make there way up the left edge and I reply in kind. The left edge and Center of the Map is Tank Heavy next turn the fire fight is going to begin.
We get our final reserves on this turn and they will move up next turn to join the fray.

Turn 3 - Initiative Brits
The Brits have pretty much ignored the right side of the map, he has 2 Crusaders there and is moving up a Matilda to strengthen his units. I’m only covering this area with 3 Panzer III’s, two of which are behind some light cover and the other is exposed. He fires bottom of his Crusaders at my lightly damaged tank and only manages to heavily damage it. I return fire on this side with both of my tanks and manage to tank out one of his tanks. His Matilda moves up and next turn will have his choice of prime targets. Still not wanting to make a move on the left edge he moves a Crusader to support the lone tank on the Dunes.
I fire with my last tank on the right edge and manage to lightly wound the crusader. I decide for my next action to fire my IV at one of the Tanks on the Dunes and again manage a light damage. Some positioning is done along the left edge but no one has made a move yet.

Turn 4 - Initiative Brits (Germany 1 – Brits 0)
His Matilda on the right side manages to finish off my damaged Panzer III but his Crusader missed. I return fire with both my P3’s on his Matti and manage to heavily damage it. He finally makes a move on the left and brings 2 Crusader around the building to fire on my P4 and P3 trained at the Dunes, neither shot hits. I still want to clear the Dunes so I don’t return fire on the newly exposed Crusaders and concentrate on those tanks and miss.
His other Matti’s roll out of the other side of the building, one shot and heavily damages a Panzer 3. Again I regret forgetting my camera but the left edge of the map is now a mishmash of cross fire. He has 4 tanks trained on my 2 tanks covering the dunes. We each have 2 tanks squared off on the other side of the building and each of us a 3rd coming up to support.

Turn 5 - Initiative Brits (Germany 1 – Brits 1)
The Brits 2 tanks on the Dunes open fire again on my PII and IV who have been opposing them and both miss. I switch back to the right side destroy the Matilda and heavily damage the Crusader. The right side is pretty much mine at this point although he manages to lightly damage one of my tanks.
Back to the left two more shots at my exposed Panzer III results in the loss of that tank. I open fire on the left side of the building and manage no hits. His 3 tanks on the left side fire and manage to down a Panzer IV.

Turn 6 - Initiative Brits (Germany 2 – Brits 3)
The Brits have so much command he can pretty much play any card in his hand. He plays one that allows him to interrupt my move and another that gives him 4 actions on a turn. He plays 4 actions right out of the gate. The results are a heavily damaged Panzer III on the right side of the board. A lightly damages Panzer III and Panzer IV on the left side. He then interrupts my move and manages to lightly damage another PIV.
Things aren’t looking good at this point, all but one of my tanks is damaged at this point. I am down in VP and there are two turns left. I take a shot on the left edge with a III on a Crusader and manage to kill it with a single shot. This was to me the turning point of the game. My Panzer III and IV who have been covering the Dunes also shoot well and I manage to take down another Matilda and heavily damage his support. Over on the right I manage to kill his heavily damaged tank.

Turn 7 - - Initiative Brits (Germany 5 – Brits 3)
Turn seven turns into a lot of missed. He does finish off my heavily damaged Panzer to close the score. But it is going to require some good shooting in Turn 8 for the Brits to pull this out.

Turn 8 - Initiative Brits (Germany 5 – Brits 4)
Once again the card is used to give him 4 actions, it’s pretty much all out attack. All of my tanks are damaged at this point but none are heavily damaged. Of his remaining Tanks he has 2 heavily damaged tanks. The trend for the Brits this game has been miserable die rolling and it continues, he scores zero hits with any of his tanks this round. I manage to take down another one of his.

Final Score: Germany 9VP British 4VP
I’ll be honest even though I won I didn’t care much for this scenario. It certainly plays fast and is an excellent introduction to using Tanks in the TOI game. But it has a real Death match feel to it, putting Tanks in Op fire is pretty much pointless unless you manage to grab a big early lead and your opponent is forced to move into your LOS.

Preview 4 is up and this time it is on the OverLords. I've finally pre-ordered this game.

This is going to be a crazy week for my real life job, I'm still going to try and get some good content on the blog though. I've got 2 AAR's and a review for Days of the Fox they just need to be polished up a bit. I should have an Out of the Box post on Pandemic and I've got something cooking in the video arena in the near future.

I've gotten only a handful of entries, none of which I have looked at yet other then to verify they were legit. So if you want a chance at winning this game see the contest link on the right.

Next months contest won't involve any art skills I've learned my lesson.

Some of you may have noticed that I switched to an actual domain name. The old blogspot address will still work and there may be some issue resolving the DNS for the next day or two.

The new one is www.oldboardgamers.com

Road to Legend preview #3 is up this time covering towns. I hate Fantasy Flight with a passion as I will be buying this game, I should just get a job their it would be cheaper. Speaking of my future employer news has broke that they have hooked up as a publishing partner with Games Workshop. Which means they will pick up the printing of Talisman and future expansion for it.

Got to play the Operation Crusader scenarios for Days of the Fox last night and I am penning an AAR of it, forgot the camera though so no pictures.

Days of Wonder publishers of Ticket to Ride, Pirates Cove and another favorite of mine Battlelore has been very quiet lately. Many are wondering whats going on with Battlelore and what new products they might be releasing. Well today the dropped a press release and unfortunately it doesn't cover any of that information, it does however tell us that they are raising their prices across the board. My advice if you are in the market for any of their games hit the online retailers before this takes effect in full.

I've order a new game called Pandemic and I hope to have that by next week and I'm also waiting on the release of Key Largo. So hopefully lots of reviews coming up.

Finally I submitted my review of Commanders: Attacked of the Genos to GameShark and that should drop next week unless Bill Abner hates it, then he just comes to my house and hits me.

The next preview for the Road to Legend the upcoming expansion for the game Decent has been posted at FFG's site. Curse them and their previews I'm pre-ordering it right now.

The above title could be used to describe my work week but it is also the first scenario in the Days of the Fox expansion that I played last night. I will post a full AAR sometime soon with photos. Also planning on playing again Thursday night to get a few scenarios in so I can write a review.

I really like the way Days plays compared to the original TOI scenarios. Desert warfare is wide open and cover is pretty much non existent at least in the Hellfire Pass scenario. As the Brits you only start with 2 tanks and then receive reinforcements each round. The goal is to take out two 88's which are positioned on two hillsides behind an entrenched German squad. Before I had even made a move I lost one of my Tanks it was crazy and fun.

In other news I am working on a review of The Genos game I mentioned last week for Gameshark. It's a blatant Advance Wars rip off but it is fun, I've yet to get in a multi player match which I need to do for the review so if anyone is interested let me know.

According to a report at BoardGame News whose link you can find to the right the game Wits & Wagers is coming to live. The game is a trivia type game with a twist and i can see how it would translate well onto Live. I'm not a big fan of it myself but it will certainly entertain a lot of people.

I also read at Kotaku that Magic the Gathering is coming to Live as well. Not many details on that at this point but I like the trend that I am seeing on Live.

I received a few emails as to my thoughts on Gencon filing for Chapter 11. I really don't know enough about the situation at this point to comment, I'm glad that GenCon Indy isn't canceled this year but it doesn't bode well for the future of the hobby that the biggest convention might be no more. It's also another reason for me to hate George Lucas beside the new trilogy, although to be fair if Gencon LLC did what the suit claims then they are scum.

Hmm I guess I did have some thoughts after all.

Finally I have gotten 2 whole entires for the banner contest, so if you're on the fence your chances are good. I've decided not to look at them until judging time so i am not swayed. It's nice to see traffic increase on the blog as well so thanks to all the new readers.

So I had a chance to sit down and open up DOTF yesterday and snap a whole bunch of pictures. You can see all of them if you go to my Flickr page, otherwise enjoy some here. This isn't a review of the expansion that will come after I have had a chance to play at least 2 or 3 scenarios. This is simply an OOTB impressions post.



The game comes with a 19 page rule book although only 6 of those pages contain rules. The rest are the 6 included scenarios.

A full compliment of British figures (76 in all) which is highlighted by the Matilda II and Crusader tanks plus the Bren Gun Carries and QF 6 pounder anti-tank guns.



I should also note that the British squad bases had no issues, i was able to pop in the figs without any problems, unlike the original game where many people had to take drill bits to the bases to widen the holes.

12 German figures consisting of Panzer III and Panther Tanks plus the famed German 88mm AT gun.

You also get 4 American MI 57mm AT guns as well.

Two new unit reference sheets which felt a little flimsy but I didn't have my original TOI opened to compare so this may just be my imagination.

9 new Map overlay pieces consisting of Desert terrain as would be expected. These look and feel phenomenal just like the original games boards.

14 map overlays including new Terrain overlays for Dirt Roads, Crevasses and Dunes to name a few.

55 new cards including some new decks such as Desert Tactics and German Air Support.

Of course you get all the standard chits you would need for the British which I won't bother to detail out here. There are 3 new Specialization Tokens called Recon, Alpha and Bravo. You can read about those in an older post or wait for my review.

On the whole everything was at Fantasy Flights high standards when it comes to components. Surprisingly all the Tanks and all of the individual figures were in perfect shape out of the bag.



The 88 guns however where bent to hell. Some such as the one in this picture probably unfix able as it feels like it is ready to snap already.

Anyway I will be playing one scenario tonight and I hope to be able to review it sometime in the next week or so.

A preview is up on FFG's site about the upcoming expansion to Descent which is one of my favorite games.

I'm very interested in this expansion as it adds a campaign option to the mix. Whether I will be able to muster up a group to play this regularly enough to justify purchasing this expansion is another question altogether. Anyway the preview covers some of the cool new features and is worth the read.

I spent the afternoon shooting pictures of the Days of the Fox expansion so I hope to have something up tomorrow about that.

I'm going to be away for my day job for the next 2 days so I won't be posting much, it kills me of course because Days of the Fox arrived today. I'm also seeing a lot more traffic thanks to a few friends promoting my contest.

I continue to be impressed by Sins each time I play it, I'm still a turn based guy at heart but I really like the pacing of it. When I get back this weekend I will do an "out of the box" for Days and hopefully have some more information for you on a board game I got to play test recently.

I was just strolling over at Bioware's site and saw this, it will probably hit all the major news sites if it hasn't already.

It's obvious that most Bioware titles that are 360 "exclusive" aren't really the case. Had I know about this I had plenty of 360 games and I would have waited for this on the PC.

I completely forgot to mention that Commanders: Attack of the Genos an Xbox Live arcade game hits this week. This is a turn based strategy game that is aimed at all levels of players. While I'm not expecting anything as engrossing as Catan or Carcassone I'm still in support of any games that have board game qualities. For those who don't know both Talisman and Blood Bowl are expected to make Live appearances this year.

Here is the deal I need a banner image. See that lovely templatized image sitting behind my blogs name? I think it should be more representative of a board gaming site. So if you're interested in trying to win a copy of Sins of the Solar Empire here is your chance.

All you need to do is click on the email link in the upper right and send me an email. Title it Sins Contest and then either attach or link to your submission. You can enter as many times as you want.

The winner will get a copy of the game and full credit on my blog for the use of the image.

The image needs to be a jpeg and the size is 740 x 150. The contest will run until the end of the month. I'll probably post soem finalists then make a decision so by entering you're giving me express permission to feature your images on the blog whether you win or not.

For those of you without artistic talent like myself don't worry I will be having more contests in the future.

I managed to break the tip of my left pointer finger yesterday when the lid of my washing machine decided to slam down on it. A lesson was learned however and that is don't help out with the laundry.

So I am typing without the use of that important finger since I am a speed two digit typist. I didn't have a chance to do any board gaming this week which is a big let down. Missed my normal Thursday night group and couldn't swing the weekend session either. Hopefully the TOI expansion will arrive this week and I also place an order for some other items.

I'll be posting the details of the Sins contest a little later today.

Occasionally I will discuss something other then board gaming because the bottom line is I'm a gamer. Many have tried to rid me of this passion but no one has succeeded yet. I own a 360, PS3, 6 PC's, PSP, DS (soon to be cobalt black one as well), Wi and about a dozen other platforms that no longer see any AC coming their way. My motto has always been "Gamers go where the Games are" I'm not a fan of any console just good games. I've dogged the PS3 for the better part of a year but it still delivered one of the top 10 gaming experiences of my lifetime with Drake's Fortune.

So along comes Sins of the Solar Empire by Stardock which has been described as a cross between Home World meets Civilization. That's a pretty fair comparison in my initial days with the game. Sins on the surface could be mistaken for you run of the mill RTS but it's not even close. I need to come clean I am not a fan of RTS games I can count on one hand the number of RTS games that have seen extended play from me. In case your curious those would be Total Annihilation, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Company of Heroes and that's about it.

Sins has the potential to be the next one on that list, there is just so much depth to this game it is hard to phantom at times. To give you an idea of how over whelming this game can be let me give you my thoughts 10 seconds after starting my first game. "What the Hell should I do first"

It certainly wasn't through lack of information that I arrived at that thought. There were four decent tutorials to take me through Logistics, Interface and numerous other skills and information I would need to get going. It wasn't from a clear cut idea of what I needed to do, the goal is simple dominate the stars.

I sat there staring at my screen letting the seconds click because I couldn't figure out what my little empire should do because there were so many choices. Develop my planet, create construction frigates, set up mining facilities on the nearby asteroids, get a ship yard up and going to create a fleet, put planetary structures in place, perhaps start my way to controlling the black market.

As I sat there I kept thinking to myself the clock is ticking, lets get those frigates up and going. Lets get some defenses going tick, tick tick... I need metal for my fleet get mining set up on that asteroid tick, tick, tick...

As my minions went about doing my bidding without the babysitting required by your typical RTS I waited and waited for the inevitable rush to occur. You know what I mean it happens in almost all RTS game, hell it happens in Civ IV and thats possibly the best turn based game ever made. Before you're ready, because you haven't followed the formula for success the AI is scouting or worse attacking you.

In case you're wondering there it is, my problem with RTS games in general. Many of them are suppose to feel grand in scale, AOE you're colonizing the new world. Nothing kills the illusion of such a grand design as an instant rush by elephants while your still chopping trees to build animal pens.

In Sins I waited and I waited and it never came. That's not to say that contact didn't occur because it most certainly did. However I felt in control, I felt like I knew my empire and what was going on. I had a plan, my little cruiser and frigates were doing what I told them to do and better yet they were doing what needed to be done at times without me telling them. My solar empire was living, breathing on it's own and I was sitting in a throne room on my planet with a smile.

Will Sins make it to my top 5 list of RTS games, time will tell but so far I am enjoying the ride. I read this somewhere and it was a simple quote but spot on. "Sins has that one more turn feeling except there are no turns"

I doubt I will do a full review of this game, that's not my blogs purpose but I am going to give you a chance to win a copy of the game. I'll be announcing a contest over the weekend which will give you a chance to start your own empire.

Considering the current traffic to my site your chances should be good.

Well news today out of Fantasy Flight that they will be releasing a game based on the Sci-Fi channel series BattleStar Gallatica. Here is a brief blur from the press release:

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game will be a semi-cooperative game, in which players work together to solve problems confronting the fleet, ranging from mechanical to political issues, all the while remaining vigilant for Cylon attacks. However, suspicion clouds the ship and its crew, as one or more players may indeed be a Cylon!

You can find the whole release here.

Lara Crigger has posted a review of a new version of Risk coming out over at GWJ. I haven't played Risk in a very long time but this seems a bit interesting and the packing looks cool too.

The Tide of Iron expansion should also be on shelves here in the U.S. in the next few weeks. It's already out in Italy and the UK, once i have my grubby little hands on it I will get something up very quickly.

I mentioned Through the Ages a few weeks back, apparently it is out but going to be very hard to find. They did a limited print run and if you didn't pre-order I think you will be SOL.

Once upon a time back in the early 80's when Dungeon and Dragon's was hitting one of it's many peaks of popularity there were a slew of fantasy themed board games released. The first edition of Talisman was published by Games Workshop in 1983 and it was a fun little title which has gathered somewhat of a loyal following. Fast forward to 2007 and a company called Black Industries has published the 4th Edition of the game. Interestingly Black Industries recently announced that they were getting out of the game publishing business to concentrate on publishing books, what this means for the future of Talisman expansions or even a 5th edition is anyones guess at this point.

What You Get
The game comes in a nice package which has tray insert for the many cards you will find. Their is one 6-Fold Playing Board, 14 Character Cards and card board pieces, 104 Adventure Cards, 24 Spell & Purchase Cards, 4 Talisman Cards, 4 Toad Cards and 4 Alignment Change Cards.

Also included is a nice easy to read Rules Book, which once again has no index a pet peeve of mine but these rules are so short it hardly matters. Six 6-Sided Dice and a load of Plastic counter for Craft, Strength, Life tracking and Gold-Colored Coins.

The art work is very nicely done in the game and everything is in full color. I found the card stock to be a little on the cheap side, just getting the shrink wrap off caused some slight damage to the cards. The tray in the box while nice is not large enough to hold the 104 adventure cards securely. It was also common during our play sessions for the card board figures to come out of their plastic bases.

How does it Play
Talisman is a game that plays itself by that I mean it is pretty much card driven. You will refer to the rules for combat and a few other items on your very first play but by the time you're 15 minutes in the game will flow very nicely.

The board is set up into 3 regions those being Outer, Middle and Inner. the goal of the game is simple reach the Crown of Command in the inner region and then kill off the other players. The only time a player is really eliminated from the game is when a character is in the inner region so while PvP combat will occur in the outter regions to try and get an item from another character it will not allow you to win the game.

A turn is simple you roll the dice to move if you're in the Outter or Middle regions. You must move your fill die roll but you can go in either direction. Each location on the board has instruction for example the Woods might have you draw an adventure card, the Crags might cause you to get lost and lose a turn, the Village offers a Mystic, Alchemist and Healer each with different results.

The main component of the game our the adventure cards that you draw. You might draw something simple like a bag of gold which gets you a coin. You might draw a location like the cave which stays on the board in that spot and causes the player to roll a die and use one of it's result. You will also encounter creatures from the very fantasy themes Dragons, Ghost and Demons to the mundane like the wild Boar or Lion. Defeating these creatures is key to game as you keep their cards as trophies which you can then trade in in multiple of 7 to increase your attributes.

There are 3 attributes in the game they are strength, craft and life. Increasing these very high is a key to the game because to get past 2 spots on the board in the inner region is going to require a high score in at least strength or craft.

Combat is either physical which is strength based or physic which is craft based. So encounter a Lion with a 3 strength uses physical combat and encounter a Demon with 5 Craft uses Physic. Combat is pretty simple you roll a die and add your appropriate attribute to the result and someone rolls for the creature. If you roll higher you kill the creature, a tie is a stand off and if you roll lower you lose a single life and combat does not continue. The creature stays on the spot for someone else to come in an pick off on future turns.

That pretty much sums up the entire game play. You move, read and react as I said the game plays itself. The problem with the game is while fun, people can tend to linger in the outter and middle regions to long. First time players get caught up in visiting the location on the board which have die roll results and seldom look for encounters when in fact defeating monsters and trading in their cards for increase attributes is what you need to do.

Is it Worth It
That's a tough question to answer and it depends on your gaming style. Talisman is not so much a game you play every week or month, although gamers with children might find more frequent play, but one you play a few times a year.

It's a game you experience more then play and if you like that style then Talisman is worth every penny. For me it's a valuable addition to my collection.

Score on the D10: 6