Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyrre

"Ha! Ha! Sadoranny take this I shall blast you with Biggus Luckius Pantius of Doomius."

So now you have seen the humour of ESWotBWaS (I am not going to write it out each time.)

Please note this game for some reason uses bad and I mean BAD language in the rule book and the game itself has crude humour in it

OK we have the warning out the way, so how is the game itself?
Its a real fun game to play. Each game only takes maybe 30mins to complete and on the way you can be real mean to your fellow players. In fact it's almost a rule. The whole idea is to be the last Wizard standing and the only way to be that is to destroy, mangle, fry etc, your fellow Wizards.

To begin the game you draw a Wizard card, this makes no difference to the game its just there to count down to your DOOM!!!. The names of the Wizards are something like " Fey Tickle Bottom" so you see what you are up against here. Draw 8 spell cards and off you go.
You cast spells made up of 1,2 or 3 cards and this is where a little thought comes in. You need to work out if you will play cards that match or will you play cards of different symbols. You will also collect Treasure, have a bit of dice rolling to do to work out how much damage you do if any or if your spell backfires and damages you.

Even when you die the game isnt over for you, you draw a dead Wizard card that can give a bonus to you in the next round. This part I do like because it gives a slight advantage to those of you who die early on, so you can wreak havok on the winner and have a little gloat.

The Game is suitable for 2 - 5 players and I would recommend it for older players, certainly don't let the rule book fall into younger hands, and this is the only downside for me. There really isnt any need for such language in a card game. i am no prude I support Newcastle United and go to football games. i can swear with the best of them and have, but and it,s a BIG BUTT (sorry couldnt help it) card games are not the place for this, unless its the type of game you pick up in a Adult Fun shop.

So while I do like the game and think its a great deal of FUN, and I do play it again and again the language lets it down for me I would mark it higher but this really, really isn't on. so its a 6/10.

ZOMBIES!!! the directors cut

Shhh!!! keep quiet! they will hear you. The dead have become undead and you have to escape the City.

Zombies the dirctors cut is a simple and yet fun game from Twilight Creations Inc. Your job as one of the Un-undead or living as some like to call them, is simple stay alive long enough to get to the heli-pad and rescue or kill 25 Zombies. One small thing I should mention is that all the other players are trying to do the same and are more than happy to feed you to the Zombies if it means they will escape.

So what do we get in the box:

30 x map tiles

50 x event cards

6 x shotgun guys (humans)

100 x zombies

1 x rule book

+ life and ammo tokens.

The directors cut box has loads of room to put the ex[ansions in as well.

OK what do you have to do to play this game? Simple on each turn a player takes a City tile and places on the board he/she then add a number of zombies to the board. Movement is controlled by the roll of 1 dice, if you land on a square with a Zombie on you have to fight it. You then roll 1 dice to see how many Zombies you can move and seeing as how they are undead they only get to move 1 square on the board.

You also have event cards that can help you or hinder others.

Its hard to kill 25 Zombies and equally as hard to reach the Heli-pad and escape. That said if you do get killed, you get to have another go. Though you return to the town square and lose half of your Zombies in the process. This is a real simple game, one where you can be as nasty as you like in your pursuit of victory. There is a couple of downsides though, the game can take a long time to play, and if you don't like Zombies you may not understand the humour. The positives far outweigh the negatives. Its a great group game, its simple, its fun and it has loads of expansions. Those of you who know Zombie movies will want to escape the Mall, or fight a Military experiment thats gone wrong, you can even fight Zombie clowns if you can escape the funhouse that is.

Overall a good simple fun game 8/10.

Risk: Star Wars : The Clone Wars

"Only as good as those who follow thier plan Risk is." and so Yoda passes on another piece of Jedi wisdom.

Risk :Star Wars :The Clone Wars, now there is a title for a game but is it any good?

Well lets get one thing sorted from the beginning I got this from EBay and including P&P it cost less than £10, so a bargain it is. That said, it is one of the many, many Risks on the market and more are on the way. Is it better than the original? well I think so it plays quicker, you never get to build up massive armies and have tons of dice throws before you can move on. Also it adds a couple of variations to the game play.

What you get in the box is 2 Armies the Republic and the Seperatists this allows 2,3 or 4 players to change the course of the very bad films that Mr Lucas put out. You also get a bunch of cards that are relevant to each faction and a Darth Sidious figure. A Huge CHEER!!! goes out to the game designers for not putting in Ja JA Bings.

Game play follows standard Risk play, each player claims Planets by placing one of thier figures on it in turn until all have been claimed then you reinforce those planets you feel give you an advantage of some sort.

Once that is done on with the game.

Cards are won by winning battles in the normal way, but the cards differ from original risk in that you can turn them in for Reinforcements, or a ship or play the powers that the card gives you. These will always give you some advantage for example a fighter allows any 1 on a dice you throw to be re-rolled until it is a number other than 1, or you may be allowed to use an 8 sided dice instead of a 6 sided one. Sometimes a card will stop Darth Sidious moving down his track and so delaying Order 66 being called.

Now for Order 66, this is a game changer. Until it is called the Republic player(s) must try to destroy all the seperartist players armies in order to win the game, once it is called and is enacted then the balance changes. Darth Sidious is placed on the board and the only way the Republic can win is by destroying him. Seperatists still have to destroy all the Republican forces as per normal. Also when called some Republican units will switch sides, now the game ramps it up a gear.

The strategy in calling of Order 66 at the right time is crucial, too early and not enough advantage is gained, wait too long though and you may never get the chance to call it and so lose the Galaxy. This forces the Republic player(s) to push hard at the beginning of the game, no sitting back to build up a unbeatable force in this game.
After Order 66 is called the game is over very quickly, an average game is around 2 hours and that is a big + in my book.

The playing pieces are adequate for the game, the board is a little boring I think its meant to represent a tactical display on a space ship, if so then its fine. The addition of Order 66, and the way the cards are played throughout the game is an excellent idea. All in all a good game and for those of you who fancy a game of Risk but have'nt got 4 or 5 hours to play one then this is a great game, and like I said at the start it can be picked up for a great price from EBay.

7/10

Call of Cthulhu

"The light flickered and died, in the darkness things unknown and unseen linger. Breath putrid with decay..."

So fellow traveller our journey into madness begins. Well OK our game of Call of Cthulhu the Living Card Game (LCG) starts.

I am not going into what a LCG is here that information is out there on the web already this is purely for a quick review of games I have played and this one is a doozie.

The game is for 2 players, where you have to construct a hand capable of winning 3 stories. the maximum number of rounds would be 5 and even if you go that far the game will only take about 45 - 60 mins, so its quick and thats a good thing. This isnt a game where you have to construct a deck like Magic the Gathering, though some players do. However when we play we only use the basic set and we choose our factions at random. This can lead to you picking 2 factions that dont play well together, but it adds to the game play for us. The are expansions that introduce new factions to the deck and also Asylum packs that come out each month if you want to go down the deck building route.

The story phase of the game is where the fun begins, you need to commit characters to a story to win it and the defending player does likewise to stop you. Pretty simple so far however you do need to carefully choose who you will attack with and who you will defend with. I have lost many a game because i didn't concentrate on what my opponent was doing, too much forward planning on my behalf led to me losing a story, and what is not forgivable my opponent winning not only the story but the whole game. When I first played this game it was ok but I thought nothing special, however as I played it a few more times and after going back to it after a break of a few months I realised that there was more to it than my first impressions.

Games are fast paced and capture the mythos of Cthulhu well. It is an easy to learn game but has hidden depths within it, and I suspect that the expansions will add to the depth of the game. The art on the cards is first rate, as are the production values of the game itself.

Within the box you get 155 cards split between the 7 factions + 6 little Cthulhu figures that act as game markers, these are nice and not at all cheap unlike markers you get in other games, also in the box is 24 story cards and a game board. All you need to get started with and at a good price. Fantasy flight Games should be proud of what they have done and the way in which they maintain high standards in thier products.

As it's a horror game I would'nt recommend it for the young, however Fantasy Flight do say 13+ for the age range and I won't disagree any younger than that and I dont think they would grasp the mechanics of the game or the mythos behind it.

A very healthy 8/10.

Blood Bowl Team Manager

"The ball is in the air, its going long...long...long. Oh! No! the reciever has been smashed into the ground and his head is now rolling across the pitch. What a game to end the season on Jim."

And so ends another Blood Bowl season.

Blood Bowl Team Manager the card game by Fantasy Flight Games brings the fun of Blood Bowl to your home in an easy to manage and understand format, and whats good is it isn't a collectable card game. That said it cries out for an expansion and i certainly hope one comes along in the not too distant future.

Players take the part of a team manager in a Blood Bowl season, the race you get, is drawn at random from a pool that has. Humans (Reikland reavers), Dwarf (Grudgebearers), Wood elves (Athelorn avengers), Skaven (Skavenblight scramblers), Orcs (Gouged eye) and Chaos (Chaos allstars). This way the game is fresh to each player each time and you need to think what tactics are best for each team. OK you don't not really but some teams are better at cheating than others and this may or may not be an advantage.
A season is run over 5 (game) weeks and each manager has to gain as many fans as possible over this period to win the game. Now that is the only part of the game i dont like. Why say you need to win fans, your a Blood Bowl team you already have 1000s of fans from your race. I think it should have been called what it is "points" after all that is how most gamers will think of it. to win you need points, plain and simple. OK whinge over.
As the game progresses you can draft star players and these will help to win points (Fans) and ultimatley the game, you also get the chance to win upgrades, either team upgrades or staff upgrades. Then its time to see who has become Spike Magazines manager of the year and the winner of the game. You may win the Blood Bowl but you may not become the game winner so keep that in mind as you play to accumulate Fans (points).

The game pieces are of a high standard and logical, as is the game itself there are no stupid rules that make you scratch your head and think "WHAT!!! does that mean". It's a game for 2 - 4 players and plays different with the different amount of players you have, so thats a good thing. It takes about 60 - 90 minutes to play through a season maybe a little less with 2 players.

All in all a good fun game, that has fans crying out for an expansion. I really really want to play the Undead, and Dark Elves. The warhammer world is rich in races so here's hoping more make it to the Blood Bowl Leagues.

A very healthy 8/10

ZOMBIE FLUXX

Brains!!! Brains!!! or should that be Brians?

Zombie fluxx the card game by Looney Labs., is one of a range of card games that this publisher has put out that have a similar theme. No not Zombies, but ever-changing rules.
The game starts off with the simple rule Draw a card, Play a card from there each player can change something about the game, it may be the rules change so instead of picking one playing one, you may have to play all your cards or pick up 5 or something similar.
The basic card types for all fluxx games are Basic rule (the one you all start with), New rule, Goal, Keeper and Action. In addition on the Zombie game you have Creeper and Ungoal.
A quick run down on the difference between Keepers and Creepers is simple. Keepers you want to keep these cards will help you to win the game, they may add friends to your side or give you some other advantage. On the other hand Creepers are not nice, you dont want these cards and you must play them straight away and then draw another card, Creepers do not count as a turn. In Zombie Flux these will be...ZOMBIES.
The Ungoal is the opposite of winning, you guessed it if you play Ungoal the Zombies win. So unless you were planning on having a Zombie baseball team you lose.

The blurb on the back says its suitable for 2 - 6 players, really you need 3+ to make it worth while, and it says 10 - 40 minutes to play a game out. I would say a game lasts an average of 20 minutes. The recommended age range is 8+ and I guess thats about right, though why you would want to introduce youngsters to Zombies is anyones guess. I don't think they would get the humour or references, but who knows what you do in your homes.

Is the game fun, yes it is I have enjoyed playing it and it passs away a bit of time on a rainey afternoon, its easy enough to pack in a bag for holidays (if your in the U.K. then you know you need games for those long hot summer days).

It also says its compatable with other games in the fluxx series, but i cant comment on that only having the one. Others in the series are Fluxx, Family Fluxx (says it has simpler rules, how they can simplify the rules I dont know but I will believe them). Eco Fluxx, Martian Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx.

I give this a strong 7/10. Fun and Fast.

Lords of Waterdeep D&D

                                   Lords of Waterdeep

"and so my Lord the time has come for you to kneel before your new ruler! Haaaaa! Haaaaaaa! Haaaaaaa!"
How many times have you wanted to say that? Well maybe you can't say it out loud, but if you beat your opponents at this game you will say it to yourself, and maybe after a drink or two you can be forgiven for the odd evil cackle at the end of an evenings hard gaming.

Lords of Waterdeep is a D&D game by Wizards of the Coast. set in the City of Waterdeep (Duhhh!) your task if you should take it, is to become the new Lord of the City.

Now before we go any further lets get one thing straight, this may be a D&D game but monster bashing it isn't and its all the better for that.
Its a resource building game that has a list of adventurers as you would expect from a D&D game, but lets face it when they are little coloured blocks of wood why do you need to say "I need 3 Clerics to finish this quest off"? when in reality what you need is 3 coloured cubes of wood. Maybe because its a D&D game the developers felt the need to have adventurer classes in there somewhere, maybe they felt it would appeal to the American market more, who knows? They are there but I have yet to meet anyone who says " If only I had one more fighter" they are more likely to say " pass me a white out of the box".

So now we have that out of the way what else do you need to know?
OK this is possibly the best put together game I have seen in a long, long time, the intray is superb. Everything fits in it perfectly and the attention to detail astounds. The pieces suit the game and are of a very high standard the game board is a work of art and sets the standard that other game manufacturers should try to emulate. The rule book is colourful and makes it an easy game to learn, another big plus for me.

The game revolves round you collecting victory points (VP) by completing Quests. that you have collected by sending your meeples into the City. You also have Intrique cards that allow you to slightly influnce the game in a variety of ways. Some of these cards allow you to gain resources, but you may have to give some of these to another player. Others allow you to take resources away from an opponent. The Quests themselves may give you a advantage straight away or give you VP at the end of the game. In addition to that you need to build and control buildings in the City. These give you resources if you visit them you can also visit buildings belonging to other players to collect the resources in them, but you will give the owner of that building a boost as well.

As for which Lord you will play, well thats down to random selection each time. I have read on forums that some players dont like that, they must have a favorite for one reason or another. However I think it adds to the game, it keeps it fresh so that each time you play you have a different set of objectives to fulfill in order to obtain a bonus at the end.
Now the part I do like is at the end, you may think you have conquered all the other Lords, but then come's the tally up and the bonuses are awarded. This can allow victory to be snatched away at the very end, and believe me this can lead to some heated discussions afterwards.

Lords of Waterdeep is a great game, you will grasp the rules within a few minutes play and realise that while it isnt a deep thinking game it doe's require some forward thinking and little planning and a little backstabbing. Nothing that will make you fall out, just enough to make you groan. Its well put together and well balanced out, even if some folk think one or two things in it are overpowered I dont. To get a powerful piece you have to spend a lot of resources, you pays your money, you takes the choice.

10/10 would give it even more, but decided to be sensible.