D&D Wrath of Ashardalon

Slowly you advance along the dimmly lit corridor, the smell of decay permeates the air, in the dark corners the sound of tiny feet scurrying out of the light of your flickering torch can be heard.

And so begins another D&D adventure, or it would if you had a DM (Dungeon Master) and were roleplaying, but this game isnt about role playing its a Monster Bash.

Welcome traveller to Wrath of Ashardalon.

Now the first thing you notice on opening the box is a massive, and I mean massive Dragon Figure. This dad boy (or girl) is so much bigger than all the other figures in the box and it screams out to be painted. I am not normally a one to paint figures in games, so times I do it out of boredom and sometimes just because they are so nice and this one is in the nice catergory.
Anyway alongside this monster is a group of adventures and lots of other smaller monsters for you to bash. In additon to these are a whole bunch of encounter cards a mass of small tokens and the floor tiles that will make up your Dungeon.

So your party of adventures has met in the nearest in, you have decided on a plan, drank your flagons of ale, sharpened your weapons etc. etc. and off you go.

Basicaly the game plays much like a lot of tile playing games, on you go you pick a tile place it and resolve any issues that need resolving. The randomness of the tile selection means you get a different layout each time you play and different monsters or other problems that need resolving.
I am not going to run this game down in anyway, it plays easily and well. A small amount of thought is needed but what is really needed is a group of people who want to have a laugh.
You get a book with scenarios in that gives out a goal to be achieved to win the game, this can be anything from a simple lets wander around and kill stuff to saving villagers (why do these people always need saving?)
This adds to its replay value and I guess there will be folk out there who have made up even more scenerios for you to complete.

So there you have the basics behind the game, its not a role play its a simple fun hack and slash boardgame and not a bad one at that. The models are great, Your hero team is what you would expect and the monsters just love to be killed. Rules are simple and logical after a couple of rounds everyone will know what they are doing and you wont spend the night refering to the rule book or arguing over minor points.

All in all if you are looking for a easy to learn game where you can kill monsters that has loads of reply value, then you wont go far wrong with this. A easy 8/10

Now where did I put my sword of Truth and Justice, its in here somewhere...

Battles of Westeros

It's time to call the Banners my Lord. Its time to CRY HAVOC!!! AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR!!!.

Its a red day dawning in this game from Fantasy Flight, that allows fans of George R.R. Martins books the chance to play the Battles of Westeros.

Now i have never played Battlelore so I can't say how this compares to that game or even if it is compatible, but from looking at other reviews I think I can certainly Say that it isn't. I  am not here to compare it to anything else like others have done, all I am going to do is give you my thoughts and maybe help you make up your mind on spending a large amount of your hard earned cash before buying this game.

OK lets begin, this is a game that comes in a BIG box and it has lots and lots of pieces for you to put together, some folk run it down for this, but I didn't mind in the slightest mainly because someone else did it. So you cant pick up the box and play straight away, but don't be put off by that. A little forward preparation is all it takes to glue the parts onto their bases, and it is worth the effort. each unit is easily identifiable on the table and this in turn makes it easier to plan your moves.

You get a rule book (of course) and a scenario book. The rule book guides you through the first scenario and that's a blessing, it doe's seem that there are a lot of rules you need to memorise and it may seem confusing at first. However you soon realise that it isn't that hard a system to learn and within 3 turns we had the basics down.
Also you get 130+ figures in the box, some order cards, a double sided game board, river and road hexes and a stack of counters.

As for the game itself. It plays out very well indeed. It offers those gamers who want a more depth to their evenings play a real challenge, and while a little luck with the dice is needed it certainly does not take anything away from the game. The tougher units are harder to kill and that's as it should be. You need to protect your commanders and at the same time keep you troops close enough to them so they can receive orders from them. All of this adds to a exciting and fun way to play what is a medieval war game. Also you have the ability to carry out flanking and ranged attacks against your enemy units. The flanking attack can be devastating, you can hold them up at the front stopping them from moving away then send other units in to try and wipe them out. Archers etc. need to be deployed so they can fire at the enemy without being blocked by your own men. All of this is logical and as close to reality as you can get with little plastic men without it being cumbersome and overly complicated.

Individual commanders bring personality traits to the game and each plays differently and so adds another element to the game.

There are expansions all ready out there and another to be released in the near future. So Fantasy Flight are certainly supporting the game. I don't know if there are fan forums around, but i will look into that side and if I see any of note will add a link.

I would say the game is suitable for those looking for a game that has depth and an age of 14+ it plays out in about 90 - 120 minutes. A good game that has lots of replay value and strong 9/10.

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