One of the cool products I saw at the recent GAMA Trade Show was Bucephalus Games' relaunch of the Girl Genius: The Works card game. This is one of James Earnest's (the designer behind such games as Kill Dr. Lucky and Give Me the Brain) favorite games because of the amount of strategy possible, despite the apparent randomness of the card play. The basic mechanic involves moving a card to a position so that you can "pop" it off the table and into your score pile. When the last possible "pop" is made, the player with the highest scoring pile wins. You can play a game in under 30 minutes and the cards are illustrated with art from the Girl Genius web comic/trade paperbacks.
GG: TW has been out of print for several years, so I'm happy to see it getting re-release, especially in the much larger packaging, about the size of a Munchkin box, which should keep it from getting lost on the shelves. I'll have to see if I can find my copy so I can get some games in before the new edition hits the shelves this summer.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
HeroClix Release Schedule
April 2010
DC HeroClix: The Brave and The Bold, releasing April 14th, features 55 figures including famous team-up, “duo figures”, from the DC universe such as Batman & Catwoman, Green Lantern & Green Arrow, and The Flashes as well single figures like Power Girl, Metallo, Martian Manhunter, Nekron and the Black Hand.
May 2010
The DC HeroClix: Blackest Night Starter Set will arrive in comic & game stores on May 12, 2010. The Starter Game includes everything you need to play - 7 HeroClix Figures (Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, The Flash, Mera, The Atom, Scarecrow and Wonder Woman), rulebook, map, dice and more.
July 2010
In July, the HeroClix Watchmen Collectors Set hits the street and includes 25 highly detailed figures pulled straight from the movie including - Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, The Comedian, Ozamandias, Walter Kovacs, Moloch and many others, all wrapped in beautiful, display quality, packaging. A 15” Dr. Manhattan will be released at the summer conventions and a variant version of the colossal figure will be released to retailers later this year.
August 2010
The Marvel HeroClix: Web of the Spider-Man Set debuts in August with 60 figures consisting of the most famous Spider-Man allies and villains. The set will also include figural content from Marvel’s Dark Reign and Siege events.
October 2010
DC HeroClix: Brightest Day Set will release in October as a tie in to the Brightest Day story line and as a follow up to the Blackest Night Starter.
Includes a two-sided map and 7 figures - Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Firestorm, Deadman, Osiris, Hawkgirl, and Captain Boomerang.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
November 2010
In November, WizKids will wrap up the year with the DC HeroClix: 75th Anniversary Set that will contain content spanning the rich history of the DC Universe.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Brave and the Bold
The new HeroClix Brave and the Bold set releases on April 14. The set looks pretty cool. We have a sample of the BIBTB figure, Batman & Catwoman in the store for you to drool over and will be doing a midnight release of the set on the 14. So at 12:01 on April 14, be in here to get your hands on the newest set of DC figures in over 2 years. Every booster you buy that night will get you one entry in a drawing for a HeroClix chase figure.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Magic Update
I'm at the GAMA Trade Show this week and just finished WOTC's presentation on what's happening with Magic this year.
Interest n Magic is up tremendously. Sales of the Magic 2010 set are 70% higher than sales of the Magic 10th edition set, with Zendikar being the best selling set of all time. Number of Magic sanctioned events is up 35% over 2008.
The next set , Rise of the Eldrazi, will have 248 cards, making it the largest final set of a block ever. It should be in store around the end of April.
Multiplayer Magics will get a big push this summer, which WOTC has designated the Summer of Multiplayer. The multiplayer set is titled Archenemy and the focus is on 3 average decsk against one uberdeck. Archenemy arrives June 18th.
Magic 2011 launches on July 16 with 249 cards, half of which are new. The major change in presentation of the set is that intropacks will now have a 60 card deck included, rather than the current 40 card deck. There will still be a booster back included with each deck.
August 27 will see the launch of this year's From the Vault set, Relics. WOTC will sell 100 sets per day at GENCon earlier in the month, then store's will have them on the 27. It's another limited set so expect to see them vanish quickly.
Interest n Magic is up tremendously. Sales of the Magic 2010 set are 70% higher than sales of the Magic 10th edition set, with Zendikar being the best selling set of all time. Number of Magic sanctioned events is up 35% over 2008.
The next set , Rise of the Eldrazi, will have 248 cards, making it the largest final set of a block ever. It should be in store around the end of April.
Multiplayer Magics will get a big push this summer, which WOTC has designated the Summer of Multiplayer. The multiplayer set is titled Archenemy and the focus is on 3 average decsk against one uberdeck. Archenemy arrives June 18th.
Magic 2011 launches on July 16 with 249 cards, half of which are new. The major change in presentation of the set is that intropacks will now have a 60 card deck included, rather than the current 40 card deck. There will still be a booster back included with each deck.
August 27 will see the launch of this year's From the Vault set, Relics. WOTC will sell 100 sets per day at GENCon earlier in the month, then store's will have them on the 27. It's another limited set so expect to see them vanish quickly.
Friday, March 19, 2010
4th Ed Dungeons and Dragons Thoughts
After running 4th edition D&D for the first time last Wed for D&D Encounters, I have to say it's still recognizable as derived from 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons. Combat still works basically the same, initiative still works the same, there are still the same basic character classes and c but I could recognize the game and it still runs very similar to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions.
The major difference I see is that the power level has been significantly ramped up for beginning characters, especially for mages and clerics. Their starting spell numbers have significantly ramped up over previous editions. The priest character in the game has a couple of at will spells that could cast every round, a far cry from "I have magic missile and read magic." A first level spellcaster doesn't have to cower at the back of the party once they use their lone spell, they can keep mixing it up with the rest of the group.
Healing surges mean the party cleric doesn't have to load up on healing spells, giving up all offensive spells to serve as the party's first aid kit. On the one hand, this lets the cleric get more involved in all askpects of the adventure. On the other hand, the other party members are much less concerned about protesting the priest. No more cries of "Cleric!"
The major difference I see is that the power level has been significantly ramped up for beginning characters, especially for mages and clerics. Their starting spell numbers have significantly ramped up over previous editions. The priest character in the game has a couple of at will spells that could cast every round, a far cry from "I have magic missile and read magic." A first level spellcaster doesn't have to cower at the back of the party once they use their lone spell, they can keep mixing it up with the rest of the group.
Healing surges mean the party cleric doesn't have to load up on healing spells, giving up all offensive spells to serve as the party's first aid kit. On the one hand, this lets the cleric get more involved in all askpects of the adventure. On the other hand, the other party members are much less concerned about protesting the priest. No more cries of "Cleric!"
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
J. Michael Stracyzinski
J. Michael Stracyzinski, best know as the creative force behind the Babylon 5 TV series, has been working in comics for ht epast few years, most recently on Spider Man. DC has just announced that, come July, he will take over the writing chores on both Superman and Wonder Woman. Given his emphasis on long term plot development and characterization, it will be interesting to see what he does with both characters.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Player's Handbook 3
Been flipping through the new Player's Handbook 3 this morning and here are some first impressions;
We are getting very far away from the archetypal fantasy races of gnomes, elves, dwarves, etc.. Now you can play a wilden, which is a living plant or a shardmind, which is a crystalline creature fromed of fragments of something called the Living Gate. We're certainly not in Middle Earth any more, are we?
Oh joy. Psionics are back. Makes sense I reckon, since the announced release of the revised DArk Sun setting for GENCON this summer. There are your low grade psionics either, not with disciplines going up to level 29. Monks are back as well and it looks like D&D has stolen some ideas from the Runequest RPG with the creation of the Runepriest character class.
The Epic Destinies section recalls the Immortals set from the original Dungeons & Dragons game. Quoting from the Universe Mind epic destiny: " When your name is spoken, you notice, and if the need is great enough, you provide a crucial insight." Sounds to me as if you just became a god in the game.
Finally, seemingly almost banal after the new races and Epic Destinies, there're lists of new skill powers and feats, as well as more magic items, including a number targeted at teh relaunched monk class, becaeu, well, monks aren't tough enough on their own.
We are getting very far away from the archetypal fantasy races of gnomes, elves, dwarves, etc.. Now you can play a wilden, which is a living plant or a shardmind, which is a crystalline creature fromed of fragments of something called the Living Gate. We're certainly not in Middle Earth any more, are we?
Oh joy. Psionics are back. Makes sense I reckon, since the announced release of the revised DArk Sun setting for GENCON this summer. There are your low grade psionics either, not with disciplines going up to level 29. Monks are back as well and it looks like D&D has stolen some ideas from the Runequest RPG with the creation of the Runepriest character class.
The Epic Destinies section recalls the Immortals set from the original Dungeons & Dragons game. Quoting from the Universe Mind epic destiny: " When your name is spoken, you notice, and if the need is great enough, you provide a crucial insight." Sounds to me as if you just became a god in the game.
Finally, seemingly almost banal after the new races and Epic Destinies, there're lists of new skill powers and feats, as well as more magic items, including a number targeted at teh relaunched monk class, becaeu, well, monks aren't tough enough on their own.
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