#Chess

Club Fantasci 2013 Board Game Awards Program

Club Fantasci

Club Fantasci

 

Club Fantasci announces the release of a new awards program focusing on board and role-playing games.

David Lowry the board game column editor is announcing the release of their new Club Fantasci 2013 Board Game Awards Program to feature the very best in the board and role-playing games industry.

“The gaming industry has being growing at an amazing pace for over a decade but yet there are still so many people who are unfamiliar with all the new types of amazing games that are coming out. We want to introduce these games to the public at large and encourage more social activities between families and individuals” says Lowry.

Read more here: http://clubfantasci.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/7208club-fantasci-board-game-awards/

Previously the Geek Eccentric Board Game Awards.

 

Thoughts after the ASTRA Toy & Game Convention in Nashville, TN.

Monday morning I was on Facebook to see if Mayfair Games had posted my review of Star Trek Catan which they did because (thank you) they understand social media much better than just about all the rest of the of the board game publishing companies and I noticed in their social media posting that they were at an ASTRA Toy & Game Convention in Nashville just one block away from the Starbucks I was sitting at working so I jumped online and registered and high-tailed it down there to check out what was going on!

It was a great event with lots of fun toys and board games which is of course what I was interested in and a great energy with very friendly vendors, store owners, reps and staff. Granted most of the product is aimed at children but some of the games were amazing no matter what the target market was and real credit is due to the designers on their originality and the ability to put together games that allowed for different levels of playability at the same time so any age can play the challenge will better fit each player without the parent or adult having to throw a game for the children to win. There was some great solo player games, a few original party games that looked like a blast, one being Donkey from Cleveland Kids and Spontuneous from Spontuneous Games Inc. It was amazing to see so many great educational, fun toys and games. Things have come a long way since I was a kid.

As mention earlier Mayfair Games had a booth there demoing Catan Jr. which is my daughters favorite board game and a game more for adults called Five Points that looked very interesting. Asmodee Games had a presence there as well for both kids games like Timeline, another of my daughters favorites and 7 Wonders which is a great gateway game for the older crowd. I’ll have reviews of many of these games out soon so stay tuned for that.

Like any sales convention, you can tell who is experienced by their booth personality and who isn’t. There were a handful of people who didn’t try engage anyone as they walked by and others that were all about demoing their product which is the whole reason they are there. Creating interested and sales is the whole point of the convention. There were some very talented sales people there and that was fun to watch!

I spent many hours talking to reps and publishers and for the most part across the board whether it be through my normal connections or just talking with this crowd, many really don’t understand or utilize social media to even a 10th of its potential. Sure many of them have witter accounts and Facebook pages but most publishers just post once a day whatever the product that day is and they never engage their fans, reviewers or anyone. Social media is about engagement. This industry has got to learn to embrace this medium and utilize it before board games become passe again. All these companies have a marketing person who might have to do it all, but that is no excuse. Mayfair Games is great about posting their reviews (thank you from all of us reviewers,) Catalyst Game Labs is the best that I have come across so far that understand social media in this industry with email blog updates that are constantly engaging and interesting, Twitter posts with replies to their followers, constant Facebook updates and most of it isn’t a sales push, it’s an attempt to engage their customer base.

Learning to use social media properly is critical to any business today. If the manpower isn’t available, there are of course options like interns to help run it, but there just isn’t any excuse any more. Social media has been around to long to not have put a plan in place. Remember, it’s not about how many likes are on a Facebook page, it’s about how many people are talking about you and engaging with you. I can’t wait for the day with publishers engage with their customers and help blow the door of our favorite hobby.

Stelcon: Infinity Board Game Review

Stelcon: Infinity
Stelcon: Infinity

StelCon: Infinity designed by Russ Rupe is a space battle board game published by Conquest Gaming, LLC pits Marshal’s of interstellar fleets against each other while trying to colonize regions of space nearby in other galaxies to grow your dominance and propagate your species.

Stelcon:Infinity (hereafter SI) is a light strategy game that plays 2-6 players at around 30-45 minutes per player. A six-player game is kept shorter by having three teams of two players execute their turns simultaneously. The list price is $79.95.

The game comes with 6 map boards, 6 star docks separated into three sections, 222 punch out pieces, 115 conquest cards (each unique), 50 sector cards (each unique) 3 dice and rule book.

Stelcon: Infinity
Stelcon: Infinity

While choosing from six races which each have their own strengths to explore the galaxy with all the players taking their game board and making a circle (the boards are properly angled to allow this) to connect their sectors. Each race has its own strength so players need to read their board carefully. Each player starts with a hand of 5 cards dealt out from the sector cards. All 50-sector cards must be gone through before the conquest cards come into play. You also start with a double squad MOD and 1 fuel crystal on your home world.

Turn order is as follows: 1. Star dock, Fuel check and Building.  2. Show all moves. 3. Combat, Scouting and Exploration. 4. Draw up to hand limit.

Each turn a player has many options. They can bring in ships, MODs such as scout ships; engines or fuel crystals (money) or they can play cards from their hand if able. You can do as much during your turn as your resources such as fuel crystals or cards allow. To start your turn, you count up your fuel crystals and subtract the cost of what you have in play i.e., a ship may cost three fuel crystals for one and five for another. After subtracting the cost what ever is left over is what you can now bring into the game such as scout ships or MODS to enhance your ships or sectors. Then you may play cards, which enhance your sectors, hurt other players or help in combat. Some cards are playable on your turn only, other anytime and others only on certain types of other cards. This has a “Munchkin” flavor to it but due to the cards uniqueness it offers lots of replay value.

Home worlds, ships and outposts can hold one MOD each. MODs can be guns, engines, fuel crystals and squads. Guns give +1 firepower and cannot be scuttled later. Engines give +1 movement and cannot be scuttled. Production MODs (fuel crystals) can be built on the home worlds or outposts but not ships and cannot be scuttled. Squads are MODs that can be built only at the home world either in a MOD slot or on a ship. Squads give +1 firepower but cannot attack alone. They must be in a MOD slot or be destroyed at the end of your turn. They can also move 2 moves per turn but again must be in a slot at the end of the turn.

Stelcon: Infinity
Stelcon: Infinity

Players can jump to other players sectors via jump lanes and conquer their sectors. Whatever cards are played on those sectors maybe taken over by the attacking players and then those cards abilities now stand in favor of the conquering race, certain cards can also neutralize this as well.

Combat is simply resolved by counting the number of guns on each sector and/or ship plus any MODs and totaled up against each other. Then cards can be played to either enhance your total or hinder the other player and then you roll a d6 and the highest score wins. The losing player is forced to retreat squads if able and ships are scuttled back to the player’s shipyard. Damaged ships can be brought back into play by paying a fuel crystal cost per turn to move them through the repair process.

During your turn you can have combat, scouting or exploration. Combat is obvious and scouting can be done when a player moves into an empty sector. Sectors that haven’t been scouted or explored yet have a militia you must combat and is represented by the number of guns printed on the game board. Once the player has won the combat they must explore the sector.

Ways to win:

The first person to conquer an opponent’s home world is the victor.

The Victory Point Variant: You get one victory point for every battle you win against an opponent. You get one victory point for every sector you control at the beginning of your turn that is on an opponents map. You get 5 victory points if you conquer an opposing players home world. The first player to 8 victory points wins in any combination of the above-mentioned victory point scenarios.

The 2-player variant: Using 4 player maps, opponents sit directly across from each other. The T-Sectors will connect the opponents via the wormholes.

The 6-player variant: 3 teams of 2 with team mates sitting across from each other and taking turns simultaneously. You win if you conquer an opponent’s home world or if using the Victory Point variant the points are shared.

Stelcon: infinity
Stelcon: infinity

The game components are well done and the artwork is good. The slots in which the MODs fit might take a bit of work at first but don’t seem to get to loose after many game plays so that shouldn’t be an issue. My only gripes here would be need to buy two different size card sleeves for one game that already is a bit up there in price and the rule book could be a bit better as to one of the victory conditions.

Now granted I didn’t cover everything here, it’s much deeper than I wrote so please check it out before making a decision based on this review. SI is most definitely a fun game with just the right amount of light playability and tension. It is a social game that has just enough strategy to keep it fun and “gamers” entertained and feeling like there was enough depth to the game to make it worth their time. It has a ton of replay value as all the cards are unique and the 6 different races having their own strengths. It’s easy to learn, fun to play and easy to teach.

If you are into space themed games but want a version that isn’t as heavy as Twilight Imperium Third Edition then Stelcon: Infinity may be for you. It’s a great way to scratch that space itch when you can’t get the big dogs to the table.

I give it 8 out of 10 stars with the caveat it’s a light strategy game but great fun!  [rating=8]

This review was originally posted on Geek Eccentrichttp://www.geekeccentric.com/stelcon-infinity-board-game-review/

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Geek & Sundry’s TableTop Board Game Web Series

TableTop

TableTop

For those of you looking to get into tabletop board games, but not sure how, a great place to start is with Geek & Sundry’s show TableTop hosted by none other than Star Trek The Next Generation’s Wesley CrusherWil Wheaton who does a fabulous job of explaining the games and keeping the interest level high.

TableTop is a very successful web series that effectively focuses on what are known as gateway games. In other words games that are fun, easy to learn and provide a great experience into this new world of board games. Just entering into it’s 2nd season, TableTop has done a great job of putting out high quality videos with stars and well known personalities in the geek culture such as Felicia Day (who run’s Geek & Sundry,) Veronica BelmontColin Ferguson (Eureka) and many others.

Each episode runs 20 – 30 minutes as the group plays a board game of the week in kind of a “celebrity poker” format. Will starts each episode with a basic run down of the game and its basic rules and then its jump right into it. As the game is being played, on screen hints and tips help to explain the rules so you know what is going on as the game is “paraphrased” in content. The players get little spots in the video where they can discuss their strategy and make jokes about the progress of the games so far. They don’t show the whole game being played as that would get a bit monotonous, they edit it down to key moments and funny bits.

Last season demonstrated great board games such as PandemicSettlers of Catan as well as card-based games like Gloom and Fluxx. You really couldn’t find a better primer into the world of today’s board games. Don’t worry, there won’t be any games that are too heavy as the show’s focus is to bring new players into gaming and not have them overwhelmed with deep strategy games.

For more information about TableTop, visit the Geek & Sundry website: http://tabletop.geekandsundry.com/

Other links to TableTop:

http://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry/featured

https://www.facebook.com/geekandsundry

https://twitter.com/geekandsundry

https://plus.google.com/+GeekandSundry

This article was orginally posted on Geek Eccentrichttp://www.geekeccentric.com/geek-sundrys-tabletop-board-game-web-series/

The Geek Eccentric Table Top Board Game Primer

Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan

Hello! I am David Lowry and welcome the first article written for the tabletop board game section of Geek Eccentric.

In this primer I hope to help educate those of you not familiar with the ever-growing popularity of designer board games and the types that there are. Most of us are familiar with American mass-market games like MonopolyScrabble or Pictionary. While these can be fun, they often suffer from fundamental design flaws and can create runaway winners making it not fun for the other players involved.

So let’s look at these other great options.

Over the last few years, the popularity of board games has grown dramatically with the release of a game called “Settlers of Catan” referred to by many as the new “Monopoly” or “board game of our time.” Released in 1995 it had sold over 15 million copies by 2009. It has since had many expansions, revisions and has even become a video game.

Many of the board games today are also available as apps for your smart phone or iPad. This is a great way to try board gaming out while not committing to a bigger investment. These board games will range in price from around $15 up to $100 dollars depending on the type and size. They can also go for several hundred dollars if they are out of print on eBay. We are passionate about our board games!

Today’s designer board games are usually classified in two basic ways, either Eurogames or Ameritrash, although there are of course other categories but for the purpose of this primer we will focus on these two different types.

Eurogames (aka German style board games) such as the aforementioned “Settlers of Catan,” focus on being well balanced and streamlined. With less of a focus on theme and more use of abstract games mechanics. In these types of games, players often compete for points or resources, rarely is there player to player combat involved and players are never eliminated. Eurogames can be heavily themed but that may have little to do with the game play.

Examples of games would include:

Caylus (my personal favorite)

Puerto Rico

El Grande

Princes of Florence

Carcassone

Power Grid

Popular publishers of this genre would be:

Rio Grande Games

Ystari

Mayfair Games

Ameritrash games tend to be heavily themed and dramatic in their game play style. There can be developed characters, factions or heroes. Player conflict is more likely and the games can feature a fair amount of luck involved.

Examples of Ameritrash games include:

Arkham Horror

Ticket to Ride

Battlestar Galactica

A Game of Thrones

Smallworld

Fury of Dracula

Popular publishers of this genre would include:

Fantasy Flight Games

Days of Wonder

Whiz Kids

There are many different types of board game classifications such as deck building games, war games, co-operative games, strategy games, family games, thematic games, abstract games, children’s games, customizable games and party games and I will be covering these in future articles.

Game designers themselves can achieve rock star status of sorts with game board aficionados. Some of the more popular ones are Reiner KniziaMartin WallaceAlan R. Moon and Bruno Faidutti.

Here are a couple of resources to help you learn more about tabletop board games:

Board Game Geek – Is probably the best resource on the web. You will find every board game you can think of and thousands you can’t here. Complete with videos, reviews, and game play blogs and news, this is the ultimate resource for checking out games and learning to play.

The Dice Tower – One of the more popular reviewers of board games and family friendly.

I hope this piques your interest in the wonderful world of tabletop board gaming! Make sure you check out your local hobby or game stores for these and other wonderful board games.

This primer was originally posted on Geek Eccentrichttp://www.geekeccentric.com/the-geek-eccentric-table-top-board-game-primer/